Chapter 101: Conflict at Flourish and Blotts

Harry, Ron, Allen, and Hermione strolled along the winding cobblestone street.

Those Jin Jin Jialong and Knuts clinked cheerfully in Allen's pocket, loudly demanding to be spent.

So he bought four large strawberry peanut butter ice creams, a generosity unprecedented for him; they happily ate their ice cream while wandering the alley, browsing the dazzling shop windows.

Ron gazed reluctantly at the full set of Chudley Cannons robes displayed in the Quidditch magical masterpiece shop window, unable to move; finally, Allen and Hermione had to drag him away.

Finally, they arrived at Flourish and Blotts, only to be surprised to find a huge crowd jammed outside the door, all eager to get in.

A large banner hung upstairs:

Gilderoy Lockhart

Signing copies of his autobiography "Magical Me"

Today, 12:30 PM – 4:30 PM

"We can meet him in person!" Hermione cried excitedly. "I mean, almost all the books on the list are written by him!"

Most of the crowd seemed to be middle-aged witches; the line stretched very long. Hermione and Ron squeezed Harry and Allen through the crowd, bringing them to where the Weasley family was queuing.

Ron introduced his mother, Lady Weasley, and his sister, Jin Ni, to Allen; Hermione introduced her parents, the Grangers, to Allen.

Allen quickly stepped forward to greet them politely: "Lady Weasley, thank you very much for the sweater you sent for Christmas; I loved it!"

"I'm glad you liked it. Thank you too for taking care of little Ronnie at Hogwarts," Lady Weasley said, but her attention didn't seem focused on Allen.

She breathed heavily, constantly patting her hair. "We'll see him in a moment..."

Allen tactfully stopped the conversation and continued talking with the Grangers, but the Grangers had already spoken first.

"You are the Mr. Pig-Nose Hermione often tells us about? I mean no offense, but I'm very curious. Hermione has told us many of your amazing feats at home..." The Grangers had been observing Allen for a long time.

Allen couldn't help but look at Hermione; she had already guiltily picked up a book, pretending to read it intently...

Allen had to deal with the Grangers himself: "I'm not that amazing; if anything is amazing, it's the magic..."

Mr. Granger said with great interest: "I don't quite understand the magic Hermione studies, but as a doctor, I can appreciate your amazing nature even more. What did it feel like when you conjured the pig nose? What did it feel like after your sense of smell became sharper..."

The Grangers' glances casually swept over Allen's entire body, as if searching for something, but their breeding prevented them from asking directly.

For the first time, Allen discovered that an inquisitive doctor was so difficult to deal with; he answered the Grangers' various questions with a dry mouth...

At the same time, he was grateful that what he randomly drew today was a rabbit's tail, which was completely invisible when stuffed inside his trousers; if he had drawn another part that was hard to hide, and the Grangers had seen it, he estimated it would have been even harder to escape.

Finally, he seized an opportunity and quickly said to the Grangers: "I came here today to buy books. I see the books over there are almost sold out; I must go take a look immediately."

The Grangers reluctantly ended this conversation.

Allen quickly grabbed a weary shop assistant: "Mr., how much is the complete set of Gilderoy Lockhart's works?"

The shop assistant looked at Allen and said: "A Hogwarts student, I presume? The complete set of Gilderoy Lockhart's works, seven books in total, is 28 Jin Jin Jialong."

Allen's mouth dropped open in surprise, and he asked eagerly: "Why is it so expensive? Aren't the textbooks used at Hogwarts only one Jin Jin Jialong each?"

"Clearly, you don't follow the news in the Wizarding World.

Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart is an internationally renowned figure and author, a recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Arts League, and a five-time winner of the 'Witch Weekly' Most Charming Smile Award. Look at the scene today; his books sell very well, so they will definitely be sold a bit more expensive!" The shop assistant looked at Allen with a half-smile.

"But even if it's expensive, it can't be that expensive; it's four times the price of ordinary books..." Allen wanted to argue further with the shop assistant.

But the shop assistant had already gone to maintain order at the scene...

Allen stared blankly at the book in his hand; the "28 Jin Jin Jialong" the shop assistant mentioned made him feel somewhat breathless...

You must know, this was 93.33333% of all his cash at the moment!

Were those little darlings that had just arrived in his pocket about to leave me? Allen thought, somewhat collapsing in his heart; he felt that even the tail in his trousers couldn't stand up anymore.

At this moment, Hermione also noticed Allen's hesitation; she leaned over and whispered softly: "Mr. Lockhart is an extraordinary person; the content in these books is all his real experiences!"

Allen flipped through Lockhart's complete set of works; the titles were very attractive, and the content was all related to Defense Against the Dark Arts, which made Allen waver a bit. You must know, Defense Against the Dark Arts was the course he focused on most!

At this moment, a cheer erupted from the crowd, and then a voice clearly rang out: "This September, I will become the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Hermione said excitedly: "It's Mr. Lockhart! I didn't expect him to become our teacher. It seems this is an effort made by Professor Dumbledore to strengthen the education of this course; it's truly something to look forward to!"

"Yes! The Defense Against the Dark Arts course is too exhausting for teachers! I heard the teachers change every year!" Allen complained.

Hermione glared at Allen and said: "Mr. Lockhart is a very powerful person; he will definitely be able to teach us for several years!"

However, this remark made Allen waver completely, but he still couldn't make up his mind.

At this moment, Harry squeezed out of the crowd; he was holding all of Lockhart's works in his arms and came panting to Allen's side.

"Allen, you haven't bought Lockhart's books yet, have you? Here, this set is for you; I'll go buy another set!" Harry placed the books in front of Allen.

Allen secretly rolled his eyes and thought silently in his heart: Even if I'm eating soft rice, I can't eat your bowl of soft rice!

However, this also prompted him to make up his mind; no matter how poor, one cannot be poor in education!

So he patted the books in front of him and said: "I just paid; give them to someone else!"

Harry believed Allen's words; he readily took that pile of books away, preparing to give them to Jin Ni.

Watching Harry's figure disappear in the distance, Allen actually felt some regret in his heart, but there was nothing he could do; who told him he didn't know the technique of eating soft rice hard...

Allen quickly sorted out his messy thoughts in his heart; he painfully paid 28 Jin Jin Jialong. Fortunately, he already had an old copy of "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2," which could save him one Jin Jin Jialong.

Then he saw a sign in the bookstore that read: "Clearance: Old Parchment Notebooks, 10 for 1 Jin Jin Jialong, Choose Any!"

Under that sign lay a pile of old notebooks, big and small. Allen always needed a large amount of parchment to record his studies in Ancient Runes, and this price was actually quite good.

He went up and flipped through them, finding that the condition of these notebooks was still quite good; they were just a bit old and the styles were a bit outdated, but there was no mold or signs of use.

So he selected 10 of them from the pile and paid for them all at once.

Then he discovered he only had a few Sickles and some Knuts left; he felt the strawberry peanut butter ice cream he had just eaten was heavy in his stomach...

The plan to buy "fat-nerd happy water" was also ruined; he should better put away this little money! The small tail hidden in his trousers also seemed to sense Allen's mood and became dejected...

Looking at the seven thin volumes of Lockhart's works in his left hand and the thick stack of notebooks in his right hand, he sincerely hoped Lockhart's works would be worth the money...

He struggled to wrap his books, found Harry and the others in the crowd, and then prepared to meet up with them.

But this bundle of books was really too heavy; Allen gritted his teeth, found them, and shoved the books and notebooks he had bought into a cauldron next to Jin Ni...

"Jin Ni's books are still in the cauldron; how can you put your books in there?" Ron discovered Allen's action.

"This bundle of books is simply too heavy! I can't hold it anymore; sorting them out later will do. I only bought Lockhart's books and some old notebooks, so they won't get mixed up with Jin Ni's books." Allen panted, defending himself.

At that moment, a familiar and annoying voice came over, "What's there to distinguish about some broken books? Oh, no! This pile of broken books must have cost you all your money; you'll be starving for the next month!"

Allen knew who the owner of that voice was without turning around; he was too familiar with Draco Malfoy's voice.

"Oh!" Allen said calmly, not even looking at him.

Draco felt as though he had punched thin air.

So he pointed the gun barrel at Harry again, "Is Potter so stingy with his new girlfriend? Giving her only a set of books?"

Jin Ni's face instantly turned as red as her hair, and Ron beside her could no longer hold back; he strode toward Draco, but Allen and Harry quickly held him back.

People around also noticed the commotion here; Allen saw Mr. Weasley and the Weasley twins walking this way.

"What happened?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking very gentle.

"So it's you, Arthur Weasley!" an arrogant voice came over.

Allen turned his head and saw a middle-aged wizard with pale golden hair, cold grey-blue eyes, and a pale, pointed face; his temperament was icy, and that domineering air was very similar to Draco's.

He placed one hand on Draco's shoulder, wearing a mocking smile on his face.

"Lucius Malfoy!" Mr. Weasley said with a cold expression.

Allen immediately knew this was Draco Malfoy's father.

Lucius Malfoy slowly walked to Jin Ni's cauldron and disgustingly pulled out a tattered copy of "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1" from inside.

"Tsk tsk tsk! So poor you have to use old parchment!" Lucius said in a leisurely manner.

"That pile of disgusting parchment belongs to Finis, Allen Finis!" Draco repeated Allen's name through gritted teeth.

Lucius looked at Allen in surprise, "You are that Finis? Hogwarts is truly degenerating now, accepting anything; next time I will discuss this matter properly at the Board of Governors."

Hearing this, Draco showed a hideous smile toward Allen.

Allen watched all this with a blank expression, completely unmoved, as if what was just said was not about him at all.

Lucius looked at Allen in surprise for a moment, then continued to turn his gun barrel.

"Arthur, you are becoming more and more degenerate; look at who you are associating with every day!" Lucius glanced disgustingly at the Grangers, who hadn't quite figured out the situation yet, "But you, a scum among pure-blood wizards, don't live very well either! You actually only prepare these things for your own daughter!"

The next moment, Mr. Weasley hurled Jin Ni's cauldron at Lucius, then pounced on him; the two of them crashed into a bookshelf, sending a pile of books tumbling down onto their heads.

Finally, everyone hurried up to pull them apart.

Lucius covered his injured eye, threw the "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1" in his hand back into Jin Ni's cauldron fiercely, and said viciously to Jin Ni, "Take it! This is the best thing your father can give you!"

After speaking, he left with Draco without looking back.

The Grangers were frightened by this scene; Hermione and Allen kept comforting them by their side.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron went to comfort Jin Ni.

Mrs. Weasley kept chattering about Mr. Weasley; she thought Mr. Weasley had set a bad example for the children...

Finally, everyone's emotions calmed down, and Allen began to sort out the books he bought from Jin Ni's cauldron.

He quickly picked out the books he bought, but just as he was about to leave, Jin Ni called him back.

"Allen, is this yours?" she asked Allen, holding an old notebook with a black cover, "I didn't buy any notebooks today..."

"Oh, then it must be mine! I bought a lot of old notebooks today! Thank you!" Allen casually took the notebook from Jin Ni's hand...

Then the group bid each other farewell; Mr. Weasley even invited Allen to visit his home when free, and Allen happily agreed.

Hermione also came over and quietly asked Allen what she had randomly obtained today; Allen whispered it to her.

At the final parting, he noticed the Grangers were secretly looking at his quite perky buttocks...

When Allen returned to the wand shop, he surprisingly saw a few young wizards waiting inside to try wands; Mr. Ollivander was nervously taking various measurements for the young wizards, so Allen quickly put the books back in his room and began assisting Mr. Ollivander...

Finally, the few young wizards all bought wands they were satisfied with and left happily.

Mr. Ollivander called Allen over and said, "These two days are when Hogwarts sends acceptance letters to first-year students every year, which is also our wand shop's busiest time, so you need to stay on duty these few days."

Allen quickly expressed that he would stay on duty these few days.

Mr. Ollivander was very satisfied with Allen's attitude...

That night, Allen lay on his small bed, weakly wagging his small tail, lost in thought; he was thinking whether to continue transforming wand talents today, because if he randomly obtained something strange, it would scare guests away...

But then he thought again, the Ollivander wand shop itself holds a monopoly position in Diagon Alley; there is only this one shop and no branches, so there is no situation of scaring business away.

As for whether it would scare people, those coming to buy wands are first-year young wizards entering Hogwarts this year; even if they aren't scared by him tomorrow, they will be scared by him after enrollment, it's just a matter of time; since that's the case, there is no need to worry about this point either.

If something strange is transformed, just consider it the first lesson a senior gives to juniors! Allen thought irresponsibly.

In a short while, holding his wand, he fell asleep...