After accepting the protective badges, Harry and Ron turned back to the Gryffindor Table.
Seeing this, Cho Chang reached out and poked Amanda's shoulder. "Did you really prepare those protective badges for everyone at Hogwarts?"
She emphasized the word "everyone" specifically. After all, the price of Alchemy accessories was not cheap, not to mention the kind of Alchemy accessory Amanda just described—one that could resist and rebound against all Dark Arts and curses except for the Three Unforgivable Curses.
You couldn't buy one for less than several thousand, or even tens of thousands of Galleons; you'd even have to carefully consider if there were any on the market to begin with.
If something like this existed, who wouldn't keep it for themselves to save their own life?
"Yes, I prepared one for everyone at Hogwarts."
Amanda replied in a flat voice. Her gaze swept indifferently over everyone in the Great Hall, then fell back onto the plate in front of her.
"Voldemort has been resurrected, and his primary target must be Hogwarts."
She was here, Harry was here, and Headmaster Dumbledore was here; it would be strange if Hogwarts wasn't Voldemort's primary target.
"So, everyone needs something reliable to ensure their safety."
"But," Penelope frowned, looking at Amanda with some concern, "the price of this kind of protective badge shouldn't be low, right? After all, it can be considered a high-level Alchemy product. This must be costing you a fortune, right?"
Even if Amanda controlled almost the entire British Wizarding World's commerce, this was certainly a significant expense.
Marietta Eckmore nodded on the side, "That's right. Actually, you could sell them to everyone. With such an effect, as long as you were willing to sell them, everyone would definitely be willing to buy them regardless of the price."
Amanda tilted her head and blinked, shaking her head without any expression on her face. "This protective badge isn't expensive. The cost is fifteen pounds each."
"Fifteen pounds?!"
This time, even Hermione joined the ranks of the surprised. "How is that possible? Making Alchemy products of this level is very difficult, and the Alchemy masters capable of producing such items charge very high fees. How could it possibly only be fifteen pounds..."
"This really shouldn't be possible, unless," Cho Chang narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to Amanda's face, examining the area around her eyes carefully, trying to see if there were any dark circles, "you made all of these? That's impossible. You just said they all came from that place called a factory, and you haven't been staying up late lately either."
"Wait, factory, factory!" Hermione recovered from the momentary shock, understanding after looking at Amanda's calm expression. "You've completed assembly-line production for this kind of Alchemy product?"
"Yes."
Amanda nodded affirmatively. The Alchemy magic patterns drawn by machines were much more accurate and faster than those drawn by most people. In any case, magic patterns didn't need to be aesthetically pleasing.
Coupled with the assembly-line work mechanism of the factory workers, she could produce tens of thousands of Alchemy products like protective badges in a single day.
"The first batch of protective badges, aside from those that were to be shipped to Hogwarts, have all been gifted to the workers working in the two aforementioned factories."
Amanda continued following Hermione's train of thought. "According to data analysis, large-scale factory production is a powerful tool that can drive down the price of almost any commodity."
"Hiss... working at Amanda's factory gets you this kind of Alchemy product?"
Marietta Eckmore muttered under her breath, clicking her tongue. "Maybe I should just apply for a job at Amanda's factory after I graduate."
"But you also need capital, right?" Because she had to consider employment, Penelope, who understood more about these things than her juniors, looked at Amanda with confusion. "Your first batch of products was given away for free, and you've suppressed both the cost and the price. Can you really afford the necessary capital?"
Hearing Penelope ask this, a flash of cunning suddenly appeared in Amanda's semi-numb eyes. "Of course I can, Senior Penelope."
The corners of her lips curled up slightly as she mentioned another type of commodity. "For the same protective badge, with the same function, my factory can also accept personalized customization requests. The style and materials of the protective badge can be chosen freely, but the price for a customized protective badge is fifty thousand pounds each."
Fifty thousand pounds... The four girls swallowed in unison. For the same product, just by customizing the style and material, the price jumped from the cost of fifteen pounds to fifty thousand pounds?
Isn't this... isn't this price hike too outrageous?
"Would anyone really buy it like that?" Cho Chang picked up the pumpkin juice beside her and took a sip to calm her nerves.
"Yes," Amanda nodded affirmatively without the slightest hesitation. "Quite a few wealthy people in the Y Country Muggle World have already placed orders, and the Y Country royal family has also placed an order."
"There are so many rich people." Marietta Eckmore said with what seemed like resentment.
Amanda shrugged noncommittally. It was precisely because of this that she could confidently lower the costs and lower the selling price.
Because there would always be rich people willing to pay for "uniqueness." Compared to squeezing the already scarce living resources of ordinary people on general products, she preferred to use little selling points that could satisfy the psychology of the wealthy to earn more surplus resources from their hands.
Her gaze lingered on Hermione beside her, and Amanda's brain silently added the second half of the sentence, and then gave these surplus resources back to those ordinary people in other aspects.
She believed Hermione would do the same, so what she was doing now was collecting a portion of surplus resources in advance to facilitate Hermione's future endeavors.
"My worry was truly unnecessary," Penelope shook her head with a smile, reaching out to smooth Amanda's long hair. "It's quite obvious that compared to us, you are the one most suited for business."
The afternoon after lunch was a rare time with no classes. After Amanda returned to the Dormitory with Hermione and the two seniors, she took out the miniature camera that Professor Snape had used earlier.
She even set about using Transfiguration and a little bit of Alchemy to create two miniature communicators that could be placed inside the ears.
"Are these for Harry and Ron?" Hermione walked over to Amanda's desk, smoothed her school skirt, and sat on her bed.
"Yes," Amanda glanced at Hermione, then lowered her head again to put the finishing touches on the miniature communicators in her hand. "Umbridge will definitely use some small tricks on Harry and Ron. Although the protective badges are very effective, the safety probability is still not one hundred percent. So, I prepared these for them. This way, I can determine their situation in real-time and provide appropriate behavioral guidance."
Hermione nodded knowingly. She waited until Amanda stopped moving before getting up, wrapping her arms around her neck, and turning her head to kiss her neck repeatedly with her lips.
"You are always so thoughtful, no matter who it is for."
Feeling Hermione's soft lips landing on her neck repeatedly, Amanda's cheeks turned crimson at an extremely fast speed. "Thinking about more possibilities as much as possible is what I should do when I am thinking."
Pausing for a moment, Amanda followed her instincts and added another sentence. "If it's Hermione, I will only think of more."
Raising an eyebrow, Hermione hugged Amanda's neck, bent down, and looked at her face from the side. "You really are recovering; your mouth is getting sweeter and sweeter. Let me taste if the taste is as good as it sounds~"
"Mmh..."
Accompanied by a muffled groan from Amanda, Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore on the other side of the Dormitory looked at each other. Marietta Eckmore smirked, sat on Cho Chang's bed, and even pulled the bed curtain shut.
Happy times always pass quickly. After an afternoon passed, they arrived at the Hogwarts Great Hall again. Amanda's lips were slightly red and swollen, while Hermione, who was holding her arm, looked completely satisfied.
Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore, who were walking beside them, were in the same state.
After finishing dinner, Amanda and Hermione went to the Gryffindor Table together and handed the miniature camera and miniature communicators to Harry and Ron.
Looking at the two boys in front of her, Amanda pointed to their chests. "Miniature camera, wear it here."
"Miniature communicator, put it in your ear."
"Put it in my ear?" Ron, who had never worn earphones, looked at the "little thing" in his hand with hesitation after hearing this. "After putting this in, can it still be taken out?"
"Of course you can, Ron," Hermione said, holding Amanda's arm. "Just don't press it in hard."
"Yes," Amanda nodded in agreement. "Just make sure it's worn in."
Taking a deep breath and nodding, Ron carefully put the miniature communicator into his ear.
Seeing that Harry and Ron had finished wearing them, Amanda stepped back to a distance from the Gryffindor Table and asked in a low voice.
"Harry, Ron, can you hear me?"
"Yes."
"I can hear you."
Harry and Ron's voices sounded in Amanda's ears. Amanda raised her hand and gave a 'no problem' gesture to the two people beside the Gryffindor Table.
After confirming that the miniature communicators were working properly, Amanda returned to the Dormitory with Hermione, Cho Chang, and Marietta Eckmore. Penelope also followed them inside. The five girls planned to watch Harry and Ron serve detention together to ensure that Umbridge could not successfully do anything bad to them.
Amanda flicked her wand lightly in mid-air, and the footage captured by the miniature cameras worn by Harry and Ron was presented in the air.
In the footage, Harry and Ron raised their hands to knock on the door together. After a sweet, cloying "Come in," the two boys looked at each other, took a deep breath to mentally prepare themselves, and then opened the door and walked in.
Even though they had mentally prepared themselves, Harry and Ron were still deeply shocked by what was in front of them. It wasn't just them; even the five girls, including Amanda, couldn't help but be stunned when they saw the interior of Umbridge's office.
Pink, it was pink everywhere—the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and even the various pieces of furniture were pink!
Not only that, but on the pink walls, there were countless cat portraits moving vividly.
"Merlin's pink..."
Cho Chang muttered to herself as she looked at the projection in front of her. "I definitely don't dislike pink, and I definitely don't dislike others using pink, but when this person is changed to Umbridge, it's just, it's just..."
"It feels quite disgusting?" Marietta Eckmore easily reached the same conclusion as her partner.
"Yeah!" Cho Chang nodded vigorously in agreement, and the other three girls beside them also had expressions of wanting to vomit.
And Harry and Ron, who were truly facing this scene, were clearly impacted even more.
"Merlin above," Ron closed his eyes tightly before opening them again. "I really, I would rather go to the Trophy Room to polish trophies."
He lowered his voice and whispered to Harry beside him. Of course, he didn't pay too much attention to whether Umbridge could hear him; lowering his voice was just something he did subconsciously.
"Me too," Harry raised his hand and rubbed his brow. "I would rather go back to the Forbidden Forest for detention again than come to this room and watch a disgusting person pretend to be cute here."
"Pfft..."
The girls watching the screen in the Ravenclaw Dormitory burst into laughter. Hermione looked at Harry on the screen with amusement.
"Harry's tongue is as sharp as ever."
"Yeah, but he is still very polite when he needs to be."
Penelope covered her mouth and laughed as she spoke. At least when she usually interacted with Harry, this younger brother spoke in a way that she enjoyed listening to; it could be said that he was both polite and well-behaved.
Similarly, if Harry's sharp-tongued appearance were shown to Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, and Professor Flitwick, they probably wouldn't believe that this was something Harry could say.
Hmm... but not necessarily. Maybe Professor McGonagall knew, after all, she was a Gryffindor too.
Harry and Ron endured the nausea and walked to Umbridge's desk, trying to make their voices sound as normal as possible.
"Professor Umbridge, we are here."
"Oh, good evening, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley." Umbridge looked up and smiled at Harry and Ron. The smile was full of fake sweetness, but beneath the sweetness, it revealed a bit of undeniable malice. Anyone who saw it would inevitably shudder.
Amanda's eyes lingered on Umbridge's face for a moment before quickly sweeping across every corner of the screen. When her gaze touched a pen holder on Umbridge's desk, she stopped moving her eyes instantly.
With no expression change on her face, she carefully examined the quill in the pen holder, and Amanda's brain automatically began to search.
The introductions and definitions related to quills in her memory flashed by one by one, finally stopping on a type of quill she had seen in a book before—one that had been imbued with Dark Arts.
Comparing that type of quill with the one on Umbridge's desk, Amanda basically determined that the one on Umbridge's desk was the type from her memory that had been imbued with Dark Arts.
So, Umbridge wanted to use this kind of quill to "discipline" Harry and Ron?
Amanda tapped her left backhand with her right-hand fingers, a mocking light flashing in her black eyes.
If this was Umbridge's plan, then sorry, she might be asking for trouble.
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