A Web Of Magic - Volume 1 Chapter 80 Back To School

Magnus walked towards platform 9 with Fred and George while the rest of the Weasleys walked in the front. Mrs. Weasley was making a fuss with Ron as he would be starting school this year. She still kept asking the platform number despite already knowing all about it. Looks like she does not function well under stress. Magnus didn’t understand how she can still feel stress about her son despite sending five boys to Hogwarts already. He only listened as Fred and George further messed with their mother with their antics.

When half of the Weasleys went through the entrance wall, Magnus saw a scrawny boy pushing his trolley looking around confused.

“Harry, over here,” Magnus called. The confused boy was Harry Potter. Magnus didn’t see anyone else with the boy to guide him so he decided to help. Harry’s eyes lit up in recognition and his racing heart finally settled down. He thought he would lose his chance at becoming a wizard by missing the train and has to go back to his uncle and aunt. He quickly moved towards Magnus as fast as he could push his trolley.

“Thank you, Magnus. I thought I was in the wrong place. They said there isn’t any Platform 9 when I asked,” Harry pointed towards the muggle ticket collector standing at a distance.

“Well. he’s a muggle so he wouldn’t know. The platform is charmed to prevent non-magicals from noticing. How come Hagrid isn’t with you?” Magnus asked as they walked. ‘Shouldn’t they send at least someone to guide new students? How else would the muggleborns and people like Harry find the train? Sometimes wizards can assume too much,’ Magnus shook his head.

“Eh, I don’t know. I suppose he’s busy. He did give me the train ticket,” Harry said while trying to not blame Hagrid.

“It’s alright Harry. Hagrid can be forgetful sometimes. Alright, Platform 9 is just through the arched wall over there. Watch and follow me,” Magnus said as he moved quickly through the wall. He didn’t have any luggage like the rest of the students. Why carry so much when you can just shrink away your luggage and put it in your pocket?

Harry watched Magnus phase through the wall like it wasn’t there. He was awed by the methods of the wizards once again. It was all so foreign yet exciting to him. He realized only he and another ginger-haired boy remained on this side of the wall so he quickly followed behind Magnus. Waiting on the other side were Magnus and what looked like a family of ginger-haired wizards.

Mrs. Weasley got busy telling her children the do’s and don’ts on one side. Magnus just waved his hand at them in goodbye and directed Harry away from them towards the train. The Weasleys are going to be at it for a while and he also didn’t want Ginny to go crazy once she recognized Harry. The boy doesn’t need the attention right now. He already looked very nervous as it is. Magnus helped Harry board the train while levitating his luggage. He settled him soon in one of the empty cabins.

“Cheer up Harry. You are going to be a wizard. Be confident and don’t be overwhelmed. It’ll be alright. Now off I go,” Magnus left the boy on his own. What the boy does later is up to him. He should make friends from his own year. Magnus soon moved to an empty compartment. He unshrunk his luggage and put it on the overhead luggage compartment. Fred and George might take a while so he took out one of his books and started reading.

The train slowly filled up as time passed by. Fred and George joined him some time later. They looked slightly subdued, no doubt the effect of their mother’s scolding.

“What took you so long?” Magnus asked looking up from his book.

“Uh, well we were cheering up Ronnykins-”

“And running away from our mum”

“Honestly, I don’t see why she’s so mad about our grades. It’s not like we are going to work at the Ministry”

“Even Bill and Charlie didn’t choose to work there. I don’t see why she expects us to do any different.”

“We are going to open our own joke shop,” Fred declared with his actions mirrored by George. Magnus nodded his head. He knew about their ambition long ago. They even tried to include him in their plan. He’s not so sure about that as he plans to open his own shop which was of a more serious nature. ‘Maybe I can do both? I can sell the joke products with them while selling some of the serious and expensive items in my own shop,’ he thought.

“Hey Magnus, you’ve been selling at Gambol and Japes, right? Think you can introduce us? Mum will throw a fit if we go by ourselves,” George asked him. Magnus agreed as he shared with them his own experience in selling at Diagon Alley. Most of the shops in Diagon Alley deposit money directly into the bank account at Gringotts. It doesn’t do well to send large amounts of money via Owl post. The security risk aside, there’s only so much weight an owl can carry. While there are ways to use shrinking and weight-reduction charms, it’s not worth the rise in price. Once or twice might be fine but it might cut into their profits if done on a regular basis. Thus, most of the shops are only willing to buy from suppliers who have an account in Gringotts. The alternative is to pick your money from the shop every month.

Fred and George didn’t have a Gringotts account on their own. Their parents might know if they tried to use the family account. While Mr. Weasley might be alright with it, Mrs. Weasley might throw a fit. She doesn’t like things deviating from the norm. Apparently, she was different once but changed this way after her brothers died in the last war against the Dark Lord. She goes crazy if things aren’t under her control.

Magnus and the twins discussed some ways of doing business that doesn’t involve such complications. Finally, they decided to just stick with using owl post for delivering their products for now. There are plenty of students at Hogwarts who can also be their clients. There should be about a thousand students in Hogwarts, maybe slightly less. If they could get them all to spend at least a galleon each on their products in a year, wouldn’t they gain 1000 galleons per year? Fred and George began to daydream with all their imaginary calculations. Magnus just shook his head at their naivety. How could it be that easy? ‘Hmm, maybe I could try something with some slight modifications to the plan. The professors will only involve themselves if the items sold are obstructing education. What if I make products that help with education? Maybe offer some other similar services? Hmm, food for thought,’ Magnus mused.

“Wait, we should discuss this with Jordan. He’s good at stuff like this. Maybe he’ll publicize it for us,” Fred said excitedly. Jordan was in another cabin so the twins decided to go look for him to talk. Magnus just went back to his reading. Just as they were about to open the cabin door, it opened by itself.

“Excuse me. Has anyone of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost it- Magnus?” the visitor exclaimed in a surprised tone.