Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 110 The Gathering at the Breaking Cauldron Bar

As always, the Leaky Cauldron bar was nearly empty in the early morning.

But once August arrives, this bar next to Diagon Alley enters its peak season for customers.

Every day, many parents of young wizards preparing for school this year bring their children through the Leaky Cauldron into Diagon Alley to buy wands and books necessary for school.

Along the way, it's inevitable that some will stay for breakfast or lunch, especially parents of students who are experiencing the wizarding world for the first time and have the opportunity to enter Diagon Alley because their children have been accepted. They all want to try the special wizarding cuisine at the Leaky Cauldron.

Unfortunately, old Tom at the Leaky Cauldron doesn't know how to do business. He's been running the pub for years, but he's been offering the same few things over and over again.

It's either butterbeer or pumpkin juice; the rest are just regular drinks like cider and rum that you can buy in any Muggle store.

The Muggle parents who were trying wizard food for the first time were very disappointed, and it was clear that they were unlikely to continue spending money at this bar if they had the chance to come back again.

"You should get a batch of desserts like Chocolate Jumping Frog and Peppery Rascal from Honeydukes Candy Shop in Hogsmeade."

While having breakfast with Harry at the bar, Severus saw a group of Muggle students' parents complaining to their children that wizards' food was nothing special. He then turned to old Tom, who was wiping glasses, and offered his advice.

But old Tom thought he was coming up with a bad idea.

"Do you want those Muggles chasing a chocolate frog all over the bar? Or do you want to see their kids screaming with fire coming out of their ears and noses after eating Pepper Boy?"

As he spoke, he picked up the milk carton and poured Harry a glass of milk.

"The Ministry of Magic does not allow us to sell overly stimulating items to Muggles, as that would undermine the Hogwarts professors' hard work in appeasing them to allow their children to attend the magic school."

Harry held up the sandwich in his hand and complained to old Tom.

"You forgot a slice of bacon today!"

"Hey kid, that extra slice of bacon yesterday was a bonus because of your teacher. You don't get to eat three slices of bacon every day without spending any money!"

Severus nodded after hearing what Old Tom had to say.

"The Ministry of Magic is right. We can't give these Muggle parents too much excitement right from the start. It won't be easy to persuade them to come back."

"Your room fee is only enough for today. Do you want to stay longer?" Old Tom asked at the opportune moment.

Severus waved his hand.

"We'll be leaving at noon today. Everything's packed. Lupin went to Diagon Alley early this morning to do the final shopping."

“Then there will be fewer customers in the bar.” Old Tom clicked his tongue. “These past few days, quite a few people have come to the bar specifically to see you.”

Severus rolled his eyes at him.

"I didn't see you reduce the room rate by much, and you only gave me a slice of bacon in the sandwich, and only for one day."

"Business is business!" Old Tom, thick-skinned enough, said with a smile, "Although there's no discount this time, I'll give you a 20% discount on all your purchases whenever you come in the future, how about that?"

Severus took an empty glass from the bar himself.

"To show your sincerity, why don't you buy me a butterbeer now, and also fry up a slice of bacon for Dudley?"

Old Tom reluctantly accepted the empty cup that Severus handed him.

"Alright, alright, who told you to be like Nicolas Flamel's Midas touch, making people rich? Butterbeer, and fried bacon, free, no charge!"

"Free? I wonder if we could mooch a meal off them?"

Suddenly, a green flame burst into flame in the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron, and Arthur Weasley, dressed in a burgundy robe, emerged from the fire. As soon as he landed, he heard Old Tom complaining about being forced to deliver drinks and meat.

Behind him, one red-haired head after another kept jumping out of the fire.

Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, and finally Molly.

Their arrival instantly made the previously relatively empty and spacious Leaky Cauldron bar feel a bit crowded.

This also added some noise from the children to what was originally a quiet breakfast time.

"Free! What can we get for free!" Ron's eyes lit up. "Is there something going on at the Leaky Cauldron today? Old Tom's never been this generous before!"

"Ah! It's possible that old Tom's beer barrels were gnawed through by rats, and he couldn't sell them, so he had to give them away!"

George and Fred sang in unison.

Charlie unleashed his powerful muscles.

"If there's a free steak, I think I could accept it."

Percy adjusted his glasses and distanced himself from the four idiots around him. The youngest, Ginny, blushed, embarrassed by her family's excitement about the free offer.

Old Tom roared.

"Even if there were rats that had punctured my beer barrel, I wouldn't give them to you two brats for free!"

Then, he placed the full beer bottle in front of Severus and said to Arthur in an annoyed tone.

"You're too late. Tonight's free giveaway ends right after Mr. Snape's."

The children were wailing, and Molly was scolding them, even though they had eaten breakfast at home before leaving the house!
Arthur didn't care; he only saw Severus and Harry sitting at the bar.

"What a coincidence, to run into you here!" He greeted them happily. "I saw the news in the newspaper! When we went to Nottingham together last time, you were going to find those werewolves, right?"

Severus quietly placed a Galleon on the bar, gave Old Tom a wink, and then turned back to look at Arthur with a smile.

“If you choose to come tomorrow, you won’t have a chance to meet us. Last time we went to Nottingham together was indeed to look for werewolves, but that matter needed to be kept secret at the beginning, so please forgive me for not being able to tell you the truth then.”

"There's nothing to apologize for. You managed to rescue seven children, that's more important than anything!"

At this point, Arthur remembered to introduce his family to Severus.

“We’re here today to buy textbooks, school uniforms, and wands for George and Fried. This is my youngest daughter, Ginny, and my youngest son, Ronald, though we usually call him Ron. You’ll know George, Fred, and Percy, Charlie, and this is my wife, Molly.”

George and Fred waved enthusiastically to Severus, Percy bowed politely, and Charlie stared wide-eyed at his Potions professor, whom he had known for many years but now felt both familiar and strange.

Ron and Ginny looked at him curiously, while Molly wasn't very friendly. When Arthur introduced her, she simply nodded and smiled at Severus.

"Alright! Butterbeer for adults and big kids, pumpkin juice for little kids, please!"

Old Tom placed the drinks on the bar with a blank expression, causing the Weasley twins, who were greeting Harry and excitedly asking him about the werewolf case, to stare at him in surprise.

"Didn't you say the beer barrels were gnawed through by rats and you wouldn't even offer us drinks?"

"This is Mr. Snape's invitation!" Old Tom glared at them, clearly the twins had caused him no end of trouble when they came before.

"You're too kind, Severus." Arthur was a little embarrassed, but he didn't refuse the invitation.

The Weasley children cheered, and with Molly's reluctant nod of permission, they all sat down at the bar.

The children, led by George Fred, sat down around Harry, wanting to hear him recount his experiences in the werewolf case.

Charlie and Percy moved closer to Arthur and Severus, who were already sitting side by side, and listened intently to their discussion of the Ministry of Magic's recent actions regarding Barty Jr.'s escape.

They had only been chatting for a short while when...

A boy with light blond hair, gray eyes, bruises still on his face, and red eyes, as if he had just had a good cry, was brought to the Leaky Cauldron by a house-elf.

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It's been 10,000 a day for a week now.

I originally planned to change from 10,000 chapters a day to 8,000 chapters a day after a week, but because of the guild leader's reward, I'll add 5 more chapters and continue with 10,000 chapters a day for 5 days.

The update will still be split into three chapters, with one chapter at 2 PM and two chapters at midnight.

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(End of this chapter)