Chapter 3: A Letter From Hogwarts
On the fifth floor, after dealing with his emotional mother and siblings, Vaughn returned to his private room and pondered the system panel before him.
Since awakening the System, this was the first time he had seen a “mission.”
And it seemed the mission didn’t care if he succeeded or failed, with no punishment set, only rewards after success.
But it was precisely the reward that caught his eye.
“Talent Points…”
Ever since the “Novice Gift Pack” maxed out his “Potions Mastery” talent, and he experienced how easy and magical it was to study and brew potions at 10 talent points, Vaughn had been looking forward to new ways to improve his talents.
Not to mention the Magic Power Scale!
As the name suggests, the Magic Power Scale refers to the total amount and intensity of magic power within a wizard. The greater a wizard’s Magic Power Scale, the stronger the spells they can cast and the more spells they can release.
However, one cannot simply understand the Magic Power Scale as a mana bar or spell power, because casting spells also consumes emotion, and the power of a spell is more related to spell proficiency.
There are 2 months left until the mission is completed.
Vaughn no longer paid attention and closed the system panel.
He then looked at the opened Hogwarts letter in his hand. The first page read in elegant font:
【Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (President of the International Confederation of Wizards, Order of Merlin First Class, Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot)
Dear Mr. Weasley:
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Accompanying this letter is a list of all necessary books and equipment.
The term begins on September 1st, and we await your owl by July 31st at the latest.
Deputy Headmistress （ Miss ）
Minerva McGonagall, with warmest regards 】
After finishing the reply letter while sitting at his desk, he sent it to Hogwarts via the Weasley family’s new owl—poor Errol, he was too old, and almost fell into the pond a few years ago while delivering potions brewed by Vaughn.
So, after Vaughn earned money, he let Errol retire to enjoy his twilight years, and he now lives in the garden.
That was also the first time Arthur and Molly accepted money from Vaughn.
Errol’s old age left them helpless, and they couldn’t even think of a reason to refuse.
On several subsequent occasions, the money was also used for renovations of the entire house, while daily life relied entirely on Arthur’s salary—they didn’t want their children to develop any disagreements or estrangement because of money.
Thinking of money, Vaughn opened the second page of the letter again, looking at the densely listed books and equipment, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
“It looks like Ron will be picking up hand-me-downs from Bill and Charlie again. I hope that guy doesn’t cry about it!”
In fact, Ron was much “tougher” than Vaughn imagined.
When Vaughn finished sending the letter and walked out of the room, Ron was on the 4th floor, holding the crumpled Hogwarts acceptance letter, pacing back and forth with his head held high.
Percy patted his shoulder and loudly encouraged, “Ron, I knew you’d be admitted to Hogwarts!”
Ron’s head rose a little higher.
Vaughn rolled his eyes upstairs; yesterday, he had passed the kitchen and overheard Percy secretly discussing with their mother whether to forge a letter to comfort Ron if he didn’t receive an acceptance letter.
“To celebrate your upcoming admission to Hogwarts, how about I give you Scabbers?”
This sudden “blessing” left Ron flustered.
He stared blankly at Percy as he pulled a rat from his pocket, stuffed it into his arms, and then quickly left.
Leaning on the railing and watching this amusing scene, Vaughn heard two sets of footsteps tiptoeing towards him.
It went without saying that the only people who would sneak around like this in the house were Fred and George.
Indeed, the next moment, the twins crowded around him, mimicking his posture, and leaning on the railing to look down, they said loudly in “whispers”: “I bet Percy has been wanting to get rid of Scabbers for ages.”
“That’s right, George. Scabbers is old and ugly, and might kick the bucket any day now.”
“Poor Ron, he must think Percy is making a painful sacrifice!”
“Yeah, George, why is such a silly fellow our brother?”
“I can’t understand that either, Fred. Maybe Ron’s brainpower is all reserved for our other brother?”
The twins giggled and bantered back and forth, making Ron downstairs so angry he was sputtering, pulling out the rat in his arms to throw it away but then hesitating.
In the end, he sulked back to his room.
After watching the show, Vaughn smiled and looked at the twins, who were indirectly flattering him: “Go on, what do you two want?”
The twins exchanged glances, looking a bit embarrassed.
“You say it, George.”
“You say it, you’re the older brother.”
“Oh—so you remember who the older brother is now!”
After a few jokes, seeing that Vaughn was still smiling and that they couldn’t fool him, the twins had no choice but to stand on either side, with one pinching his shoulder and the other massaging his leg, and say:
“Well—dear Vaughn, you’ll be going to Hogwarts soon, so you’ll definitely need to go to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies, right?”
“Mom said you could buy your own things, and we knew you had money before…”
“But we didn’t know you were this rich. If… if it’s convenient, could you invest some materials in us again?”
“Just a little bit, it’s exactly what our great joke shop business needs!”
Seeing the usually mischievous and unruly twins bowing down for Gold Galleons, Vaughn chuckled inwardly.
But he also knew that Molly’s refusal to let them conduct research was actually for their own good, fearing they would go astray.
So for these past few years, even though the twins had secretly borrowed money from him, he hadn’t loosened his purse strings, and the twins had always thought he just made a few Sickles, until today.
The school books, supplies, and even pets would cost at least over a hundred Gold Galleons to purchase completely.
In the twins’ eyes, that was a fortune!
Vaughn, while enjoying the twins’ massage, hummed and said, “The last time you asked to borrow 10 Sickles from me, you said the same thing.”
“That was last time. Our first joke prop is about to be successfully made, right Fred?”
“That’s right, George!”
Seeing that the twins’ expressions were indeed serious, and having teased them enough, Vaughn stroked his chin, “Hmm… tomorrow we need to clean the garden…”
Before he could finish, the twins eagerly chimed in, “Why would such hard work as cleaning the garden trouble you?”
“That’s right, we’ll do it!”
“…I meant to give it to Ron, Fred!”
“This is our sincerity, George!”
“Makes sense!”
Seeing them blinking hopefully on either side, Vaughn waved his hands, “Alright, alright, we’ll see your performance tomorrow!”
Watching the twins cheer and dash downstairs, Vaughn shook his head and stood there thinking for a moment before going to Ron’s door and knocking.
Not long after, the door was pushed open forcefully.
Ron, still sulking, puffed out his cheeks and said defiantly yet timidly: “Wh… what is it?”
“Ron, come with me to Diagon Alley tomorrow.”
Ron mumbled a few times, seeming to want to object, but he was used to being inferior to Vaughn and could never muster the courage. After a while, he pouted and said, “Why should I go? I already have second-hand stuff!”
“Oh—” Vaughn shrugged, saying with a hint of regret, “I was thinking of giving you your Christmas present early this year, for example, buying you a new wand. It seems you don’t…”
Before he could finish, he heard Ron yell: “I’ll go!”
“Hmm?”
Ron’s freckled face turned red, and he stammered, “I… I’ll go… I’ll buy some rat food for Scabbers…”
Vaughn’s gaze passed over his shoulder, and he saw in the messy room behind him that the rat was nibbling on biscuits on the desk.
Completely absorbed!
Vaughn deliberately showed interest: “Speaking of Scabbers, I’ve been asking Percy for him. Since he’s old and ugly, why not give him to me as my potion experiment rat? What do you say, Ron, want to consider it?”
In the room, Scabbers’ nibbling sound froze.
Ron’s eyes widened, his lips trembled, and he was momentarily speechless.
If it were a minute ago, hearing such an absurd request from Vaughn, he would have definitely yelled and mustered the courage to drive away this ill-tempered brother.
But now…
There’s a new wand… this…
Fortunately, he didn’t have to agonize for too long. Seeing Scabbers starting to sneak towards the edge of the table, and not wanting to scare it away, Vaughn patted Ron’s shoulder and laughed, “Just kidding, a rat this small would be poisoned by a single dose of potion （Scabbers trembled all over）. Don’t sleep in tomorrow, that’s all!”
Ron let out a sigh of relief and watched Vaughn go upstairs. He then hurried into the room and scooped up Scabbers.
“Oh, Scabbers, don’t be scared, don’t be scared, he was just scaring us…”
Outside the door, at the turn of the stairs, Vaughn stared at Ron’s door with a cold smile.
Hmph, I’ll spare that guy’s rat life for a while longer!
