Hearing her daughter's exclamation, Molly went upstairs to check. She saw Fred and George with their arms around each other's shoulders. After scanning the room and finding nothing unusual, she asked suspiciously, "Ginny, didn't you just say there was a bear?"
Ginny put her hands behind her back and shook her head repeatedly. "No, no, Mum. I must have seen it wrong just now. It was just a joke Fred and George prepared."
Hearing this, Molly glared at the Weasley twins, then turned to Lucien with a kind expression. "Child, they didn't scare you, did they? They're old enough to behave more sensibly."
Fred and George were long used to their mother's evaluation. One stared at the floor while the other looked at the ceiling.
"It's fine, Madam. Their ideas are all wonderful. I find them very interesting."
Sighing at Lucien's politeness and good manners, Molly gave the twins another pointed look so they would understand. Unfortunately, the two brothers happened to be studying the sky and the ground, which only annoyed Molly further.
"Lucien, just tell me if you want anything to eat or drink. Don't be shy, treat this place like your own home."
"Thank you.."
Molly left the twins' room.
"Phew…"
Fred and George let out a sigh of relief at the same time and gave Lucien a thumbs-up.
"Your Transfiguration candy is amazing!"
"You're the one with the ideas!"
Fred pulled Ron out from behind him and patted his younger brother on the shoulder. "Alright, Mum's gone now."
Ron swatted his brother's hand away, looking dejected. He scratched at the brown bear fur receding from his cheek as his hair changed from brown back to red. He had been tricked by the Weasley twins again. After swallowing that Transfiguration candy, he had suddenly turned into a fat bear that could only roar.
This had startled Ginny when she came in.
Ron looked at his sister. She was holding a platinum-colored animal that looked like a mole. The little creature was chubby and certainly much cuter than Scabbers.
After Ron, who had turned into a bear, was changed back by Lucien's spell, he saw Lucien take the animal out of a box again. After a few words with Ginny, the little girl agreed to help cover for them.
At this moment, Ginny looked completely enchanted and did not care at all what her older brothers were doing.
"Lucien, just helping to sell things…"
"These are small matters."
The Weasley twins plopped down on the bed, sandwiching Lucien between them.
"You're Ron's good friend."
"And he's our dear little brother."
"Hm, our only little brother."
This made Ron purse his lips. It certainly hadn't seemed like much brotherly affection when they shoved that candy down his throat earlier.
"Lucien, about the methods for making those gadgets, could you teach us? Don't worry, we won't learn for free…"
Seeing the Weasley twins rubbing their hands eagerly, Lucien, who had expected this, took out two paper contracts and handed one to each of them.
"These are the cooperation terms and profit-sharing methods. You can take a look first."
Fred and George, seeing such a formal document for the first time, found it both novel and interesting, and began reading the contracts.
Basically, it stated that the Weasley twins would be responsible for sales and pricing, only needing Lucien's approval for the final plan.
They could also choose whether to take finished products directly from Lucien or to take raw materials and process them themselves, with the latter naturally offering higher compensation.
The Weasley twins would certainly prefer to do it themselves. What truly interested them were the methods for making alchemical items and potions. In fact, Fred and George had very good practical skills in both areas.
The twins had long-term plans. They knew that with their personalities, working a regular job would not suit them, and working for someone else was something they would never do in this lifetime.
So Fred and George were trying to save money to open a shop immediately after graduation, specializing in selling various magical items for fun and pranks. That way, they would have freedom and could make full use of their talents.
Lucien's proposal was equivalent to letting them practice in advance, and the compensation was quite substantial.
This wasn't called working. It was laying the foundation for a dream.
"Lucien, you didn't make a mistake with the compensation here, did you?"
Seeing the twins' disbelief mixed with irresistible longing, Lucien smiled. Just as he expected, they had taken the bait.
"Of course, friendship is friendship, and business is business. I'm very glad you're willing to help, and I certainly won't let you suffer a loss."
"You have excellent popularity at Hogwarts and understand your classmates. You're the perfect choice for both pricing and sales."
"Don't worry. The more you sell, the more you earn. This is a written contract, and the spirit of the contract must be upheld, mustn't it?"
George and Fred nodded repeatedly. They exchanged glances, as if both saw the same message in the other's eyes: What are you still hesitating for?
The Weasley twins shouted in exaggerated, humorous unison, "It's a pleasure to serve you, Boss Lucien!"
Ron could not help being curious as well. He wanted to see what was written in the contract that had made his two brothers so excited.
But just as he leaned in to look, the contract was taken away by the twins. They quickly signed it with Lucien and then solemnly locked it into a box.
Seeing the twins' reaction, Lucien smiled faintly.
After all, sales required people who were this articulate.
At Hogwarts, aside from wealthy pure-blood families, most students had limited pocket money.
So the sales strategy at Hogwarts was to sell many items with a low profit margin.
This was also why he had thought of asking the Weasley twins for help. The two of them knew many people at Hogwarts and generally understood how much disposable pocket money young witches and wizards had.
This way, they could squeeze those small student wallets as efficiently as possible.
The Weasley twins would also find it easier to understand the needs of their classmates. After passing that feedback to Lucien, he could design corresponding products more quickly.
As for those pure-bloods who were not short on money, there were naturally corresponding exploitation, no, business methods.
In short, for the wealthy, the focus would be on high-end, high-value items; for ordinary students, the focus would be on affordability and high sales volume.
Of course, the Weasley twins' popularity was also one of the promotional channels.
Because of this, Lucien also considered finding other popular students to expand their influence among the student body.
Therefore, the salary and commission offered to the twins were not low. What he wanted was the quantity and total value of goods sold. As long as the profit could cover the costs and form a healthy cycle, the rest could be used as incentives.
Lucien was not short on money either. If the system had not patched the loophole in advance and prohibited large-scale loss-making sales, he could have completed the loan task even more easily by simply throwing money at it.
Outside of Hogwarts, other products and strategies would be needed.
After all, he needed to reach 30,000 in sales volume and 150,000 Galleons in total sales.
Hogwarts was one avenue, but the main portion would definitely come from the entire wizarding world.
Working on multiple fronts would certainly be faster.
Hmm. In a few days, he would go to Diagon Alley. Some matters could be discussed in advance.
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