Chapter 3

[A/N: Please add my WPC entry novel to your library guys. You can find it in my profile and the name is Apocalyptic Merchant: I Get Stronger By Trading

Alex nodded in understanding, "Alright, that's a lot to digest but I think I know one elf who fits that description. Anyways, make me some food please."

"Yes, master."

Alex looked at Toffy who seemed to have gotten used to him and sat down on a chair that was on the counter. He looked at the brooms and the few books that were related to brooms on the shelf that the brooms used as a support to stand.

'I'm still ten years old… one more year until I get the letter to get into Hoggies. I need to prepare…'

Toffy handed him a plate filled with mashed potatoes and some toast. Alex looked at the elf, "Do we not have the ingredients to make something more… better?"

"No master. The people of ministry of magic took everything away except for some salt, butter, wheat and potatoes."

For some reason, Alex felt something bubble up inside him. The fact that someone took something that was his, irritated him to no end. It took him a few seconds to calm down as he had no power to stand against the ministry at the moment.

"Alright, steal some stuff from the farms and muggle warehouses at night. Make sure you don't get caught and apparate a bit further away from the muggles as y'all elves make a loud noise whenever you apparate of disapparate. Oh before that, is it actually safe to steal from the muggles?"

"Yes, master." Said Toffy as he saw Alex gulp down the food.

It tasted a bit bland as it only had salt and pepper as seasonings. To the average British population, it was something normal, but Alex had a feeling that the seasoning was extremely lacking. He looked at his house elf, who then began to speak.

"It's fine if we steal a few vegetables and fruits along with some condiments and meat. The ministry will ignore it as long as the muggles don't spot us. They will warn us twice if we steal anything of high value like gold and money and the third time, we will most probably face consequences.

This also depends on the amount of stuff we steal so if we steal from a bank, there will be no warnings."

Alex sighed lightly, "Just when I thought that I had a surefire way to get rich. Anyways, I'm done with my questions for now so you can do what you want."

After finishing his lunch, he took out a few books and started reading them. The reason he decided to start reading stuff was because of the sense of urgency but as time slowly passed, he was completely immersed in the content.

It was midnight when he finished reading the first book. He stood up and stretched as he glanced at Toffy who was wiping the floor with a damp cloth.

There was no clock in the shop so he didn't know what the time was but he knew it was late.

"Toffy, make me some dinner please."

"Yes, master." He replied, his voice squeaking with, what Alex assumed was happiness.

Soon, Toffy placed the thing he called dinner on the counter. Alex stood on the chair as he was too short to eat comfortably by sitting on the chair.

There was an apple pie, a piece of steak that looked a bit too small, scrambled eggs and bacon along with some toasted garlic bread and some hot chicken soup.

Alex looked at the food and knew that he wouldn't be able to eat even half of it. He sighed and looked at Toffy, "You made too much, don't you think so?"

"Toffy is extremely sorry mas-"

"Come eat with me. I can't eat all of this myself anyways.."

"Ye... yes master."

"Good. Here, this apple pie is yours. I don't like sweet food a lot."

They had their dinner and went to sleep. Alex slept on a small mattress that was conjured by Toffy while the latter simply slept on the floor.

Time seemed to pass quickly while he slowly used up all of his savings on random books that piqued his interest and that was the biggest problem for him as all the books that he saw were not so affordable as the cheapest book was one whole galleon and the costliest one was eight galleons.

Books slowly piled up in his room but he didn't stop buying more as his thirst for knowledge was unsatiable and he had nothing else to do. He tried to get some work to earn some money but no one wanted to employ him as they could make things easier for themselves with magic.

Luckily for him, he had found a store that sold second hand books that were barely used for a very low cost which was exactly what he wanted but unfortunately for him, it was too late as he knew that he would receive the letter from Hogwarts in just a few days.

He took out a small leather pouch and looked inside to find a few coins. He counted them carefully and sighed, 'Only six galleons… I'll save it for my school books and stuff I guess.'

Four more days passes and a few extra books were piled up in front of him as he happily read a book while sitting on his chair.

"Master, there's a letter for you." Toffy said as he handed him the letter.