34. Investment Plans

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"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Boom!

Happy expertly cast the Expelliarmus spell, sending a fierce and concentrated beam of bright red light hurtling toward Professor Lockhart, who was taken aback by the ferocity of his attack. The spell hit Lockhart square in the chest, and he stumbled backward. His wand flew out of his hand and into Happy's waiting grasp.

The crowd gasped in shock, and no one said a word for a moment.

But then, the silence was broken by cheers and applause; with whistles and claps resounding across the classroom. The Gryffindor students jumped up, clapping and whistling. Even some of the Slytherins looked impressed.

"Are you alright, professor? Forgive me for that book, it slipped out of my hand." Happy rushed toward the man with a worried look.

Lockhart stood up, brushing off his robes and flicking his hair. He walked towards Happy with a big, awkward smile on his face.

"Well done, young man," Lockhart said, holding out his hand.

Happy smiled back as he handed the professor his wand back.

"Thank you, Professor," Happy said, unable to hide the grin from his face. "I must have been too lucky to have hit you."

He instantly saved the man from embarrassment since he had already showcased what he wanted to those with brains.

Of course, Happy wasn't going to mess with the man too much, as he already had enough enemies. On top of that, he didn't have clear proof to prove the man was a farce, so he had to continue treating him like a professor.

Lockhart chuckled and patted Happy's shoulder. "Indeed, Mr. Lestrange. This is perhaps the luckiest day of your life, for my spells, even the weak ones, can break bones if I'm not careful. Now, let's continue with our lesson—the pixies, yes!"

Happy nodded and walked towards his bench. As he passed by Hermione, he smirked. "Still think he's a handsome, strong wizard?"

She was speechless. But a look of disbelief also made itself evident, just like a few other girls. As for the boys, they all smirked in joy at the professor's misfortune.

Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts class continued after the duel, with the professor eager to show off his expertise to erase the minor disgrace. As the students gathered around him, Lockhart started to babble on about how dangerous the Pixies were.

"Now, students, watch and learn!" Lockhart exclaimed as he released the Pixies into the air.

As soon as the cage was opened, a furious swarm of pixies was unleashed, zooming around the room like demented hummingbirds. The mischievous creatures cackled maniacally. They darted around the room, knocking books off shelves and pulling on students' hair.

But Happy was ready for this. He had learned the spell to stop the Pixies and remembered how to use it correctly.

Happy waited for a few seconds, and as he thought, Neville Longbottom was lifted up by a few pixies. He quickly darted over to him and jumped up on a desk. Happy grabbed Neville's robes and pulled him back down to safety while swatting away the mischievous pixies.

'This should be enough to clear any doubts left in his mind about me.'

Looking concerned at how even the professor struggled, Happy quickly shouted to the class, "Follow my lead! Immobilus!"

The other students were stunned and confused momentarily, but soon followed Happy's lead.

"Immobilus!"

"Immobilus!"

"Imm... o... bilus!" Ron struggled for a moment but managed to imitate Happy.

The group quickly cast the spell, and all the Pixies froze in place mid-flight. The room was suddenly silent, and everyone looked at Happy with a mixture of surprise and awe. Meanwhile, the image of Lockhart hit rock bottom in his first class ever.

It was an immaculate win for Happy Lestrange.

...

After the chaotic event, the class had to be dismissed.

However, Happy didn't join the trio, as he had more pressing matters to worry about.

Mainly, it was creating a life for himself outside the school and magical world. He didn't know how to escape the hunt by the Death Eaters or Goblins, who wished to drink his blood. He wanted to fight them, but at the same time, he needed backup plans. So he could relocate anytime to a different part of the globe.

Sadly, he felt his wealth would quickly dwindle if he were to do so. Hence, he decided to invest in the muggle world since he knew already what was going to become huge in the future.

Happy decided to sneak out to Hogsmeade, a quaint little village near Hogwarts. He made his way to the hidden passage behind the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor, from where he knew he could sneak out unnoticed.

'Being a huge fan and reading up on all that lore really paid off...' Happy thought to himself.

As he reached the end of the passage, he saw Marcus, his loyal house-elf, waiting for him. "Master should not be sneaking off like this. It's not safe. Master should call us inside the school."

Happy pressed his hand on Marcus' mouth, gesturing for the elf to keep quiet. He looked around and made sure that there was no one paying attention to them.

The meeting had to be quick as Happy couldn't risk it. So, he handed Marcus a few sheets of paper and gave instructions.

"I don't want Dumbledore to know what I'm up to yet. Now, in this paper, there is a company called Microsoft. It's a fifteen billion-dollar company. I need you to invest fifty million American dollars in this. It's a publicly traded company, so you won't have any trouble. Similarly, I've written the names of the companies and the amount to be invested in them on these pages—IBM, Apple, Coca-Cola, and more.

"On other pages, I've named a few companies and IPs that you must purchase. To name a few, there's Marvel and The Lord of The Rings. If you have any doubts, send a letter."

Happy didn't invest too much in the stock market as he was no super genius from the past who perfectly remembered everything when the stock rose and dropped. The only financial crisis he knew of was in 2008. So the best he could do was invest in a few companies he remembered doing great. He planned on doing the same in the future for big companies such as Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon.

Marcus scratched his head in confusion. "Marcus will study well, master."

With his work done, he quickly returned to Hogwarts since staying outside was a health risk.

But as he reached the end of the passage and emerged into the castle, he saw a group of animals gathered nearby.

There was Koko, his cute goose, Filch's cat Mrs. Norris, and several other creatures from the school. Koko looked up at Happy with a worried expression and began jumping up and down, flailing his wings.

"Honk! Bark bark! Hoot!"

"Hey there, Koko. What's going on?" Happy asked, crouching down to pet his feathered friend.

Koko honked again and gestured toward the other animals, who all seemed to be looking at Happy with concern. Happy looked around and felt a sense of unease in the air.

"What's the matter? Is something wrong?" Happy asked.

Koko wiggled his long neck back and forth, "Hiss hiss!"

"Ah, that?" Happy concluded that Koko was likely talking about the snake and the Chamber of Secrets. Hence, he was busy warning other animals.

'So it begins. The second year of the 'safest' school in the entire world.'

Happy, however, had no reason to be worried about it as he had Koko with him, who could be his rooster any time. Instead, he went on with his quest to woo the house elves of the kitchen to make them cook something better for him.

...

"Lestrange not welcome!" One house elf scolded as Happy tried to enter the giant kitchen of Hogwarts.

"Oh, come on, buddy. I just want to eat something different for once. I'm tired of the same old feast in the great hall. Bring some variation, fellas." Happy nagged, believing his luck would get him inside in no time. "You aren't really making me happy with your work, you know."

"WHAT!"

"WHAT!"

There were more than a hundred elves in that oversized kitchen. All of them stopped their work and turned their heads to stare at Happy with their big eyes.

"Student not happy? We bad?"

Bam!

Ting!

"We punish!!"

Pa!

In no time, absolute mayhem spread as the elves started beating themselves with whatever they found. A pan, a chopping board, or simple slaps.

Happy hadn't even entered the kitchen for a full minute, and he had already been defeated by the sheer madness of the masochist elves.

"Student, hit Lolle!" All of a sudden, an old elf came running and handed Happy a big spoon.

Happy looked at the elf in disgust.

"Wait… Why are you showing your bac…"

"HIT Spunky! I BAD!"

Happy stepped back. "Hell no! I'm not going to spank you with this thing!"

"DO IT!" Elf roared.

Happy, experiencing the crazy world he didn't want to see, threw the spoon and ran away all the way to the outside gardens of Hogwarts.

But back inside the kitchen, all the elves instantly stopped moving.

"And that's how Grogy deals annoying children!" The spank-hungry old elf roared. "Back to work! We make him run…again!"

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