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"We just want to ask if you can attend the next DA gathering wearing this hat."
"That hat that makes your head invisible? Forget it, I don't want to be everyone's laughing stock." Cedric refused without saying a word.
The DA gathering is a place to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, and it is not a selection site for the Headless Horseman Club. There is no need to hide your head.
"No, no, no, you misunderstood." Fred said quickly: "This is our new product, made all night yesterday."
"We call him the anti-curse hat." George said, "Its function is also very simple, that is, it can resist a spell attack."
"Seriously, given the current situation, it is necessary to have such a hat."
“It saves lives in critical moments.”
The two spoke seriously, and Cedric hesitated.
“If it is as good as you say, wouldn’t it be enough to sell it directly?
"Just like before, if you show its functions in front of everyone, I think many people will buy it."
"We tried it this morning, but the response was average." Fred sighed: "Maybe the price is a bit expensive, and people don't particularly trust our products."
"Expensive?" Cedric was stunned for a moment.
At least until now, nothing in Weasley's Joke Shop exceeds five galleons. This price should not make many people hesitate.
"Well, our price is fifty galleons," George said.
Cedric covered his mouth in time to prevent the pumpkin juice he had just drank from spitting out.
Fifty galleons?
This price is almost a month's salary of an ordinary Ministry of Magic employee, and few people in Hogwarts can afford it.
"No way, this is already the lowest price." Fred sighed.
"We used dragon skin, real dragon skin," George said. "Not all of them, but definitely worth the money."
"So we needed someone more famous to advertise the hat."
"It's strange to say..."
At this time, Fred suddenly turned his head and looked at Kyle, "Why are your valuable things so easy to sell? I remember that you sold a necklace made of fire dragon teeth. A hundred galleons, maybe.”
"Because the person who bought it is Slytherin." Kyle shrugged and said, "They are not short of money."
"Then forget it." George shook his head and said meaningfully: "They probably don't worry about being attacked by Death Eaters."
"Let's continue talking about advertising..." The two looked at Cedric again.
"If you can wear it, maybe more people will want to buy it."
As one of the shareholders of Weasley's Joke Shop, Cedric only hesitated slightly before agreeing.
"It's possible, but this feather must be replaced. It's too ugly." He said, "And I also want to experiment with the function of the hat."
"This is no problem." George immediately put on his hat, "You attack..."
"All petrified!"
Before he could finish speaking, a spell fell directly on him. George flew backwards and fell to the ground.
But he was not petrified and stood up quickly.
"Hey, Kyle, you should have said this beforehand," he complained.
"It's a better test this way, isn't it?" Kyle said,
He looked at the top of George's head. The hat was split in the middle.
"Can it only be used once?"
"It mainly depends on the power of the spell." Fred explained with some distress: "The more powerful spell can only be resisted once, but if someone else does it, it will be fine."
"Don't forget, Death Eaters are all adult wizards, and none of them are weak." Kyle said, "Take Barty Crouch Jr., for example. When he just graduated, he got twelve There’s a certificate.”
"What? A Death Eater has obtained twelve certificates?" George ignored his distressed hat and said dumbfounded: "Doesn't this mean that he is the same as Bill and Percy?"
"That's right." Kyle said, "Going forward fifty years from Hogwarts, only the three of them have obtained twelve certificates.
"In addition, why are you so surprised? How can someone who is chosen by Voldemort and recruited under his command be an idiot?"
"Like Peter Pettigrew?" Fred said.
"He is special." Kyle shook his head, "And even among the Death Eaters, Peter is not popular."
"Okay," George said, pulling a plate-sized piece of leather from his split hat.
"Is this Dragonhide?" Cedric asked.
"Well, we bought it from Hogsmeade. It's ridiculously expensive." George nodded and said, "But if you want the hat to resist the curse, the magic text must be engraved on the dragon skin. If it is an ordinary hat, it must be engraved on the dragon skin." The moment the fabric comes into contact with the magic spell, the hat will fall apart due to the impact transmitted to the magic text, and it will not be able to resist it at all."
Looking at the dragon skin in their hands, Kyle thought for a moment and said: "Have you ever thought about making it a disposable thing...remove all the magic words that slow down the power and replace it with 'Crash' The icon uses a more barbaric way to counteract the effect of the spell.
"In this way, much less dragon skin will be needed."
"Head-on confrontation?" Fred said thoughtfully, "But then there is no way to distinguish the type of spell. Maybe any cleaning spell will trigger the defense mechanism."
"And the 'collision' itself is very unstable. Once triggered, the dragon skin will be directly destroyed."
"But it's cheap." Kyle said with a smile, "This kind of icon is not big. It only requires one-fifth of the dragon skin you have, and the cost will be reduced a lot."
For a moment, everyone's eyes changed when they looked at Kyle.
It has to be Kyle...
"I didn't expect you to be this kind of person." Fred looked disgusted, "We thought we were already black enough."
"What are you thinking about?" Kyle said angrily, "I mean, after the cost is reduced, the selling price will definitely have to be adjusted accordingly.
"What originally cost fifty galleons, after reducing the amount of dragon skin, it only costs ten galleons, so that everyone can afford it. It's just that you need to pay more attention to it, which will cause a lot of trouble.
"But if you really meet a Death Eater... to be honest, this kind of one-time thing would be more effective."
"You're right." Fred touched his chin, "Okay, we can try..."
Seeing that the three of them were chatting enthusiastically, Cedric did not interrupt them, but instead started thinking about expanding DA.
From a personal point of view, he does not want to expand, because more people means he will be busier.
During this time, many new members have joined one after another, and now there are almost more than 80 people in DA.
This has already made him a little busy. If more people are added, the party will have to be extended. And it is foreseeable that the number of people added this time will definitely be more than one or two, and may even be doubled.
Nearly two hundred people... They can't extend the party to three hours.
So when Fred and George were about to leave, Cedric could only give a very vague answer.
"Let's discuss this together when we have time." He said, "Maybe the school can replace us with a more reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, so that we don't need to participate in DA anymore."
"Okay." Fred and George didn't care. They were anxious to go back to research new products and trotted away.
……
In the afternoon, Fudge came.
I don't know if it was intentional or not, but he arrived just before the first class started, and almost all the students saw him going to Principal Dumbledore's office.
As for what they said in the principal's office, no one knows, not even Kyle.
All afternoon, everyone was waiting curiously.
"I wish he could take Umbridge away."
In the afternoon herbal medicine class, Mikel whispered: "We obviously need a more reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor now, rather than a guy who only asks us to read and copy books."
His words were echoed by others.
By the time dinner was served, everyone in the auditorium was talking about it, wondering whether Umbridge would just get out of here.
Finally, Dumbledore arrived. He cleared his throat, and the auditorium suddenly became quiet.
"Everyone should know that Voldemort and his followers are making trouble again, and their power is growing."
As Dumbledore spoke, there was a tense and heart-wrenching silence in the Great Hall.
“I need to emphasize that the current situation is tense and everyone needs to be extremely cautious to ensure their own safety.
"The Ministry of Magic has agreed to assist Hogwarts in strengthening its magical defenses in the future, but every teacher and student must still be vigilant at all times and not let down their guard at all.
"Therefore, I ask you to strictly abide by every school rule, no matter how annoying those rules are...
"And finally it's about our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
Hearing this, Cedric raised his head sharply.
"First of all, Professor Umbridge will still teach you..."
There were sighs and complaints in the auditorium, which made Umbridge sitting next to her look ugly.
"But..." Dumbledore raised his voice, "The Ministry of Magic believes that in times of crisis like this, everyone should learn how to protect themselves. A Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is obviously not enough.
"So next, there will be two experienced Aurors to assist Professor Umbridge."
The next second, the sighs turned into cheers.
But it's not over yet.
"Besides..." Dumbledore raised his voice again, not caring that Umbridge was right next to him, and said happily.
"We also said that Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic should unite and trust each other, and the Minister readily agreed to remove the position of Senior Inquisitor."
"So here, I am happy to announce to everyone that all previous education orders, including the requirement to register to form a club, and the suspension of probation for some professors, will be abolished."
The cheers in the auditorium grew louder, as well as applause and table slapping.
This is the first time since morning that everyone is so happy.
……
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 668 Helpers from the Ministry of Magic
In recent days, the most intuitive change in Hogwarts is that the content they have to learn has become much more difficult than before, and the professors seem eager to teach everyone more knowledge.
But at the same time, they are trying their best to find ways to reduce people's fear of Voldemort. The upcoming second Quidditch match is a good way.