The next day, at the same time, in the same Hufflepuff common room, Kyle, Cedric, and Kanna sat together again.
Only this time, there was a pile of gleaming Galleons on the table in front of them.
"One, two, three..."
"No need to count," Kyle glanced at Cedric, raising an eyebrow, "It's exactly sixty Galleons, no more, no less."
"So much..." Cedric gaped, looking dazed, as if in a dream.
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Indeed, it felt like a dream — today's plan had gone incredibly smoothly.
Though Kanna had been so nervous that she'd completely forgotten their planned procedure and pulled out the map immediately like an overeager salesperson.
No, that wasn't quite right — even a salesperson would at least exchange pleasantries first, unlike Kanna who went straight to the point.
The scene left Kyle and Cedric standing there dumbfounded, unsure whether to continue with their act. But they soon had their answer.
Rohl and Yaxley's reactions were equally unexpected. They didn't even wait for Kanna to speak — as soon as they spotted the gold trim on the map, they eagerly inquired about its origins.
Upon learning there were only ten copies, they instantly dropped their haughty attitude and began chatting enthusiastically with her.
They linked arms with Kanna, laughing and reminiscing about amusing incidents from a party years ago, behaving like longtime best friends.
The girl went along with them in a daze. By the time they returned to the Hufflepuff table, she had ten Galleons in her hand.
As for exactly when these Galleons had made their way into her possession, her memory was quite fuzzy. Perhaps it happened in the corridor, or maybe at the entrance to the Great Hall.
Being skilled conversationalists, Rohl and Yaxley naturally shifted the topic from the party to Hogwarts' complex castle structure, then smoothly asked Kanna to help them purchase maps. After she agreed, the conversation drifted back seamlessly.
The whole process went incredibly smoothly, without a single awkward moment.
Though their goals had aligned, making it a mutual collaboration that led to such smooth progress, Kyle had to admit that Slytherins possessed a natural talent for social interaction.
So at the dining table, his first words to Kanna were, "Remember to stay away from Slytherins in the future, or they'll sell you off without you even knowing it."
Cedric nodded in strong agreement beside him.
To avoid any complications, after lunch, two gold-trimmed maps were delivered to Rohl and Yaxley. Then, with their "promotion", it took less than two hours for all nine remaining maps to sell out, except for Kanna's sample.
Some of the little snakes even wanted their house crest printed on them. Kyle initially disagreed, but they offered far too much to refuse.
Double the price... who could resist that?
So in the end, it came to sixty Galleons.
"Time to split the thef— ahem, split the Galleons." Under everyone's expectant gaze, Kyle pushed half the Galleons toward Kanna, "As agreed, we'll split it."
"That's wrong, you miscounted." She shook her head, counted out ten Galleons and put them back, then looked at Kyle, puzzled.
"Split between three people should be twenty Galleons each — are you really that bad at arithmetic?"
"I..." Kyle opened his mouth, feeling a tightness in his chest, "Whatever, as long as you're happy."
Cedric was nearly dying of laughter beside them.
This guy, bad at arithmetic? He could laugh about this for the whole school year.
Kyle irritably pushed twenty Galleons over. He couldn't understand how Cedric, who used to be such a good person, had become like this.
Good grief, he wasn't even trying to hide his schadenfreude anymore.
Cedric paid no attention to Kyle's poor attitude as he picked up a Galleon, turning it over carefully in his hand.
"This many Galleons is enough to buy ten Fwooper quills."
"Fwooper quills?" Kyle frowned, "What's so special about those? They're so expensive."
"They look nice." Cedric said matter-of-factly, "I've had my eye on that yellow one for a while now — the color matches Hufflepuff perfectly."
Kyle thought of something, his mouth twitched, then quickly returned to normal as he casually said, "Then you should buy several, so you can switch between them."
"No need, I'll just buy one for now." Cedric said thoughtfully, "I'm planning to give the rest to my father."
Hearing this, Kyle glanced at him and was about to say something when he continued.
"Maybe if he's happy, he'll upgrade my broom from a Cleansweep Six to a Nimbus 1700."
Kyle swallowed whatever he was about to say.
The Nimbus 1700 cost two hundred Galleons more than the Cleansweep Six — turning twenty into two hundred, Cedric's calculations were practically slapping Kyle in the face.
But come to think of it, given Mr. Diggory's personality, after learning his son had made the house team and earned twenty Galleons, he might really buy him a Nimbus.
Kyle's eyes flickered as an idea struck him, but it was too late now — it would have to wait until tomorrow.
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After splitting the Galleons, Cedric went to the kitchen and brought back some biscuits, sweets, and a large jug of pumpkin juice.
The three of them had a small celebration in the common room.
Kyle had just taken a sip of pumpkin juice when he noticed Kanna taking out seven or eight small pouches, carefully placing two Galleons in each one.
"???"
Under his questioning gaze, she explained, "I'm afraid of losing them again, so it's better to keep them separated."
"You lost some Galleons, Kanna?" Cedric asked in surprise.
"Mm." She nodded and briefly explained what had happened.
After hearing this, Cedric's smile faded as he considered the situation, "They probably aren't on the Quidditch pitch. Madam Hooch checks the field after every flying lesson, and if anyone drops anything, it's found quickly. Besides, I didn't hear anyone mention finding twenty Galleons during practice yesterday. How about this — tomorrow I'll ask around and see if anyone has seen the Galleons."
"It's alright, I'm not worried about it anymore." Kanna pointed at the pile of small pouches in front of her, her eyes curving in a smile, "These will last me quite a while."
"Uh..."
"You lost twenty Galleons and you're just letting it go?"
Cedric said nothing, but somehow the pumpkin juice in his hand seemed to have turned into lemon water.
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