Chapter 88: Plates Full To Overflowing
Early May in the Scottish Highlands, the early summer sun was warm but not scorching.
At nine-thirty in the morning, bright sunlight slanted through the window into The Three Broomsticks, the layout of the third-floor meeting room differed from the other rooms, with a long table with smoothly rounded corners placed in the center, and members of the Magic Mirror Club seated around it, their words full of irrepressible excitement.
The Easter Holiday was about to end, and the film profits had been calculated.
“Throughout the entire Easter Holiday, our tavern screened ten showings per day, each one sold out, and in half a month, the movie tickets sold for seven thousand Galleons.”
Madam Rosmerta held a glass of violet water, her tone filled with emotion.
The Three Broomsticks had two projection mirrors, on the upper and lower three floors, with spacious positions that could accommodate two groups of audience members at the same time without affecting the normal drinking patrons, some wizards who couldn’t get tickets at other taverns would come here to try their luck.
This even improved business for other shops on the Hogsmeade streets.
In just two short weeks, merely the movie tickets sold for five thousand Galleons, and including other alcoholic beverages and food, The Three Broomsticks earned nearly twenty thousand Galleons.
Old Tom, Alfie, Jack, and others sat together, smiles on their faces as well, they earned less than Madam Rosmerta, but the amount was still considerable, the money made in the past two weeks equaled what they usually made in one or two years.
At least five thousand Galleons per tavern.
In those famous pure-blood families, a few thousand Galleons might just be the monthly rent for a few shops, but these tavern owners were very satisfied, not only because of the profits, but also because of the development prospects of the Magic Mirror Club.
The Wizarding World lacked this kind of entertainment method, as long as there was high-quality content, it could continuously generate this kind of huge profit.
If they could regularly produce such films, they would become renowned families in the future.
Compared to the high-priced, low-repurchase broomsticks and potions business, the projection mirrors followed the small profits, quick turnover route, almost all viewers would rewatch the films, some witches even watched it more than a dozen times, each time dragging along family and friends.
Including the profits from the previous Quidditch match screenings, the cost of purchasing the projection mirrors had already been recouped.
Melvin sat at the head of the long table, calmly receiving the profit sharing handed over by each tavern, the linen pouch filled with heavy Galleons, which he stuffed directly into the suitcase without counting.
In Muggle society, moving pictures developed over two hundred years, starting with black-and-white silent films, gradually adding soundtracks, transitioning from black-and-white to vibrant colors, with steady improvements in clarity and visual effects, thereby accumulating a matching industrial system, involving equipment production, shooting and recording, distribution and screening.
With a complete supporting system and comprehensive legal agreements, it could relatively well protect the interests of all parties.
Melvin skipped the previous accumulation, using alchemy’s advanced productivity to produce memory projection mirrors, attracting tavern owners with Quidditch matches, quickly building a rudimentary cinema chain alliance in a short time, simplifying the shooting process to memory clips based on real events, with distribution and screening costs essentially zero.
A rudimentary system meant loopholes, in Muggle society, there would definitely be cinema owners concealing box office receipts for personal gain.
But here it was the Wizarding World, the existence of magical contracts plugged the loopholes.
When purchasing the projection mirrors initially, all tavern owners signed magical contracts with Melvin using their real names, both parties agreed that any unilateral breach harming the other’s interests would trigger a powerful curse.
Eliminating the possibility of anyone embezzling ticket money.
“Theo’s Fort, three thousand Galleons in profit sharing…”
Old Will’s customers were mostly retired Aurors, relatively rational, not buying tickets repeatedly, business not as good as The Three Broomsticks.
“Godric’s Hollow, two thousand five…”
Godric’s Hollow had few wizard residents, business even worse.
“Tintagel, five thousand…”
Alfie’s customers were mostly retired players, wealthy.
“Upper Flagley, six thousand…”
Jack’s customers were even bigger spendthrifts.
One after another, last in line was Wright, Borgin couldn’t attend conveniently, so he delivered the profits from the underground black bar in Knockturn Alley on Borgin’s behalf.
Stuffing the last pouch into the suitcase, Melvin picked it up and weighed it twice, the suitcase modified with the Undetectable Extension Charm showed no change in weight. But according to what the tavern owners had just said, this suitcase now contained nearly 100,000 Galleons.
The Ministry of Magic didn’t collect taxes, this was pure income, if deposited in Gringotts underground vaults, it should pile up into a small hill.
It could be deposited, but there was no need…
Melvin’s brows slightly raised, suddenly remembering that Hufflepuff’s Goblet was still hidden in the Diagon Alley Gringotts vault, wondering if there was a way to get it.
He lowered his head pondering how to rob Gringotts, and as he thought, the room quietly fell silent at some point, looking up, all the tavern owners were waiting for him to speak.
Madam Rosmerta reminded in a low voice: “Professor Levent, what should we do next?”
“Next…” Melvin temporarily set aside the idea of looting Gringotts, pondered briefly, “The Easter Holiday is ending, the film should be taken down, your taverns resume normal operations, use the projection mirrors to play free Quidditch matches.”
“Why?” Aida from Godric’s Hollow asked.
“The novelty will always fade, films can get tiresome, but Quidditch matches won’t, and matches stimulate patrons to consume more alcoholic beverages…”
One movie ticket for 5 Sickles, the price of two beers, avid fans could down dozens or hundreds of cups in an evening, one person filling the whole showing.
With the holiday nearing its end, sharper ones like Old Will and Alfie had noticed that many showings weren’t selling out, the initial all-night frenzy for tickets no longer appearing.
Of course, there were still audiences willing to watch.
After discussion, the tavern owners decided to set movie showings during weekend days, and play matches in the evenings.
“Summer vacation is coming soon, many school Quidditch finals are about to start, Hogwarts has professors providing moving pictures, pay extra attention to Durmstrang, doesn’t Alfie know their headmaster? Seems like he’s called Karkaroff?”
“Yes, he was once a wizard from England.”
“Many teams will have summer matches, try to get the moving pictures right after the matches end, we’ll have to rely on you, Jack.”
“…”
At ten-forty in the morning, the Magic Mirror Club, flush with profits, finalized their operating strategy for the next few months, ended the meeting, and prepared to disperse.
Old Will slowly rose from his chair, walked a couple of steps outward leaning on his cane, then suddenly turned around, staring at Melvin at the head of the table:
“Professor Levent, are those things the centaurs said true?”
The entire meeting room seemed to instantly hit mute, falling silent, some tavern owners had reached the door but still stopped, perking up their ears waiting for the young professor’s answer.
Melvin sat on the wooden chair, tilting his head: “Wasn’t it noted at the beginning of the film?”
Old Will’s face was grave, he nodded, and continued walking out.
The film had two disclaimers in total, the professor only mentioned the first one—
This story is adapted from real events.
Came home from work with a pounding headache, thought it was heatstroke.
Dug out the near-expired swab and poked—
Hey, positive again!
Feeling off, only 2k, owing 2k.
Bowing to the reader lords~
