Hogwarts' Golden Glory

Kane calmly placed the crystal box aside.

As he stood up, he had already put on a perfect social smile: "Professor, your lecture was absolutely brilliant."

Lockhart adjusted his gold-embroidered collar like a peacock spreading its tail feathers: "Of course, of course! 'Thirty-Six Smiling Techniques to Defeat Werewolves' has always been my signature lecture."

He suddenly lowered his voice and blinked, "But seriously, why do you need so many tricks to deal with werewolves? A simple sleeping spell plus—"

"—And your signature toothy grin?" Fred interjected, his lips twitching as he suppressed a laugh.

"Exactly!" Lockhart, completely oblivious to the sarcasm, snapped his fingers excitedly. "A smile is the most powerful weapon, my children. Back when we were dealing with the Yetis in Tibet—"

"We are captivated by your extraordinary charisma."

Kane suddenly interrupted, flicking his wand to conjure a velvet-covered chair.

"Please have a seat, Professor. We have a business proposal that I'm sure you'll find interesting."

Lockhart sat down instantly, like a shark smelling blood, his blue eyes gleaming with greed: "Business proposals? My dear children, I usually only take endorsements from top brands..."

George then took out the crystal box at the opportune moment.

When Kane lifted the lid, dozens of pearly laughing gas candies lit up simultaneously, projecting a holographic image of Lockhart's book cover into the VIP room.

"Merlin!" Lockhart exclaimed dramatically, clutching his chest. "What is this...?"

"An improved version of nitrous oxide candy. Users will maintain a perfect smile for six hours—just like you. We would like to invite you to be our brand ambassador."

Fred magically produced a GG sketch: Lockhart's head was floating above the candy.

Below it reads, "Gidero recommends—even the snowman is beaming with joy!"

Lockhart's eyes were glued to the sketch, unable to look away. After all, the image of himself in it was handsome and dashing, though not quite as striking as he actually was: "My image rights usually cost a lot..."

"Fifteen percent net profit," Kane replied immediately, a contract composed of golden numbers spitting out from the tip of his wand, "plus an initial advance payment of five hundred Galleons."

The number made the twins stare wide-eyed behind Lockhart.

That's way too high!

Lockhart was also quite tempted, but still pretended to tidy his hair: "Hmm...we need to consider the scope of image usage..."

"Exclusive authorization from the entire magical world." Kane added, "The Daily Prophet's full-page report is out, and it's on display in the window of Honeydukes Candy Store..."

He suddenly lowered his voice, "I heard that the new Minister Scrimgeour is currently looking for an ambassador for the wizarding world?"

Lockhart sat bolt upright as if struck in a sensitive spot: "How did you know—"

"My father happens to have some connections in the Ministry of Magic."

Kane smiled and handed over a gilded quill. "Sign this contract, and you'll be the strongest candidate for the Ministry of Magic's officially recognized 'Ambassador of Joy'."

Lockhart's hand had already reached for the quill pen uncontrollably, but he stopped at the last moment: "Wait, are these candies...safe?"

"Absolutely safe!" George assured him, patting his chest. "We've experimented on our own brother, and even on things in the yard..."

Fred quickly stomped on his foot: "—I mean, it underwent a full inspection by the Department of Magical Item Control! You see, there's a stamp here..."

Kane suddenly snapped his fingers, and a nitrous oxide candy flew into Lockhart's hand: "Why not try it yourself? As a guarantee of quality."

Lockhart hesitated for less than three seconds before popping the candy into his mouth.

Almost instantly, his smile doubled in size, revealing his entire gums: "Wow! This feeling is so—hahaha—amazing!"

The twins were trying so hard not to laugh that their faces turned bright red.

Kane then gracefully pushed the contract in front of Lockhart: "Professor, you just need to sign here... and here as well."

Lockhart's laughter was like a broken music box that wouldn't stop, but his hands were writing cursive letters with exceptional precision in every signature column.

When the last transaction was completed, Kane quickly took the contract, tapped his wand, and three copies of the parchment were immediately made.

"It's been a pleasure working with you, Professor." Kane's voice trembled with a hint of triumph. "By the way, the laughter will last for six hours—just in time for your book launch speech tonight."

Lockhart's laughter suddenly faltered: "Tonight... hahaha...? Merlin's pants... hahaha...! I forgot... hahaha...!"

When Lockhart stumbled out of the VIP room, the twins finally couldn't help but fall to the ground.

Fred wiped away tears of laughter: "Merlin! Did you see the look on his face just now? He looked like he'd swallowed a dozen croaking frogs!"

Kane carefully put the original contract into his dragon-skin pocket, a genuine smile playing on his lips: "This is just the beginning."

He flicked the ridiculously high penalty clause on the copy, "This 'Ambassador of Joy' will know that some smiles come at a price. And what you guys have to do is expose each other at school."

At that moment, Lockhart's uncontrollable laughter and the gasps of fans could be heard from downstairs.

Dark green smoke billowed from the bronze cauldrons in the underground potions laboratory of Malfoy Manor.

Kane Malfoy's silver stirring rod traced precise spirals in the potion.

"Two and a half turns counterclockwise..." Kane murmured the recipe, a few blue sparks flew from the tip of his wand and fell into the cauldron, instantly turning the liquid into a transparent amber color.

This is the Mandrake resurrection potion.

This is the method to recover after being petrified by the basilisk.

At that moment, the house-elf Dobby suddenly Apparated, his bat-like ears trembling with tension: "Master, there is a secret letter for you."

It held up a silver tube sealed with black wax.

Kane continued stirring without looking up: "Put it down."

Only after the potion in the crucible had stabilized and turned golden did he use the levitation spell to retrieve the silver cylinder.

The wax seal bore the emblem of the Potions Department at Hogwarts—it was a letter from Snape.

With a light tap of the wand, the parchment unfolded automatically, revealing only a single line of sharp writing:

"Black has been appointed as an assistant instructor in Defense Against the Dark Arts. See you in September."

Kane's lips twitched.

The parchment spontaneously combusted into ash the moment it came into contact with the steam in the crucible, and the ash fell onto the stone floor.

He should have expected Dumbledore to do this—to let Sirius Black openly enter Hogwarts to protect Potter.

"By the way, Dobby?" he suddenly called out.

"Is there anything else you need, young master?"

"Did you make sure the letter I asked you to send to Professor Alder during the summer vacation reached Hogwarts?"

Dobby's ears drooped: "Dobby personally handed it over to the Hogwarts owlhouse keeper. But..."

Its large eyes gleamed with unease; "No reply has come."

Kane frowned.

The professor had mentioned it to him before and told him to visit him during his vacation.

However, Kane was unable to contact the other party throughout the entire holiday.