55. Food and Money Glitch

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With the Dark Lord's plot vanquished, the exams canceled, and the summer holiday nearing; Happy was in the best mood possible. The elves of Hogwarts were finally cooperating with him as they loved to learn new dishes from him. From that, he got to eat a new dish every few days, which soothed his food-loving heart.

But beyond that, he also had to prepare for his visit to America. The land of opportunities, the land of dreams. Since it was still just the nineties, Happy knew he could invest in many industries that would bring him massive returns in the coming century.

Still, he wanted to create something of his own, and that required the use of the Room of Requirement. Yes, he knew he couldn't feed everyone with just the room, but he could at least start with the poorest of the poorest regions first. While at the same time, studying Herbology to a greater extent.

All he had to do was conduct a few experiments, and his luck would ensure that even if done with a mistake, the best outcome would appear.

He arrived in front of the room and first made a simple room appear, expanded to the maximum size the room could get. Then, he entered and took out a twenty-kilo bag of white rice from his expansion pouch.

'According to that American report, 10,000 metric tons of rice is required to feed one million people for a month. The room seems large enough to hold that many bags. But I don't know where the room derives its powers from. Will the magic run out if I use it too much? But, considering my lucky blessing, it shouldn't happen… That means… the amount of food I can produce here only depends on how fast I can transport it.'

To Happy, the deal sounded too good to be true. But, when thinking about the magical world itself, the room didn't seem as grand as he initially thought. There were dragons and soul-splitting magic, so why can't a magical room like that exist?

He left the rice bag in the room and came out to decide its new form. 'Keep the room expanded to its maximum limit. Increase the number of rice bags I placed inside until the maximum weight possible is achieved. Keep all of the rice as nutritious as magically possible. If nutrition levels go below sixty percent, reduce the number of rice bags until all bags are at least sixty percent nutritious. Create a walkable path in the room from one end to another, and at one end, leave a paper with details of the number of rice bags, weight, and nutrition. Also, write down if there is any cooldown time before I can repeat the same activity.'

This time, the door took a good few seconds before finally appearing. Again, Happy looked around for any prying eyes and quickly walked inside, shutting the door behind him.

Cough!

"Such heavy smell!" Happy felt his nose instantly attacked by the scent of so much rice. But a moment later, he found it pleasing. Accompanied by a racing heartbeat, he noticed a towering wall of rice bags reaching the ceiling. There was a narrow pathway, dimly lit, about half a meter wide for him to walk.

Excited, he briskly walked to the end of the pathway where the wall stood. Ultimately, he found a paper stuck to the wall with all the information. The numbers were enough to make him fall to his knees, shoulders plummeting.

His hands shook from the excitement and the weightage of his discovery. "Sweet lucky me!"

[Bags - 1,500,000

Weight - 30,000 metric tons

Nutrition Value - 100%

Reuse Time - Nil]

"YES! YES! Good bloody god… Oh, wait, I wasn't cursing you, Grandpa God! Please don't take my luck away." Happy excitedly cursed and immediately apologized.

But his excitement knew no bounds. The time limit wasn't there, meaning he could infinitely make food. That meant if ten thousand metric tons fed a million people for a month, then if he could repeat the process every minute, the rice could feed tens of millions of people for a month.

"This may not be enough for all, but it sure is a start. If I sell it to governments at a cheaper price than the competition, I should be able to avoid disrupting the market value. At the same time, I'll be able to make money for bigger things—but I need someone trustworthy to work with me."

Still, he felt pride swell in his chest at the sight. But before he could ship it out, he needed to find buyers and a way to move it out of Hogwarts. So he stopped for the day and went out to meet with Professor Snape, as a certain annoyance was soon to come and ruin his day.

…

Happy arrived at Snape's empty laboratory. The man was busy doing experiments with the Basilisk skin and venom.

"Professor, may I ask you a few questions?" Happy abruptly entered and asked.

Snape sneered like always, "Forgetting manners?"

Happy shamelessly continued. "Professor, I spoke with Lucius, and he might join our side. But I know he will one day betray us for either more gold or out of fear. So, I hoped you'd know some wizards good in the ways of money. You taught so many students, after all."

Snape, as if mocking him, spoke without even looking. "Gringotts can manage your money. There is no need to waste time that can be spent on training."

"But I'm talking about muggle money, Professor. Money is power in this day and age." Happy argued.

"How much money? A few thousand? A few million of muggles' useless paper?"

"Billions."

"..."

At Happy's one word, Snape turned around. Of course, billions was a tremendous amount, and even if they were to convert it to Galleons, it would be a substantial sum. Basically, all the wealthiest families in the wizarding world were generationally rich, and none truly acquired that wealth in modern times. So, if Happy could do it, it would be an outstanding achievement.

"I don't believe any wizard would be so well versed in the muggle money-making, Lestrange," Snape replied truthfully. "Even muggle-borns, after completing their magical studies, tend to remain on the side of the magical world rather than returning. But perhaps you will find someone like that in America. They have far more wizards than we do here."

"Makes sense. There should be a few wizards at Wall Street," Happy mumbled and changed the topic.

"By the way, professor, I wanted to ask you about something. I've been having this strange feeling ever since I fought with that Basilisk. I feel my body vibrating whenever I use my wand, and it's not a sense of discomfort but a feeling of incompleteness. As if I'm not utilizing something enough." Happy muttered in confusion.

"What is the core of your wand?" Snape inquired.

"A Zouwu's fang." Happy answered quickly. "Ollivander said it's pretty rare for such a wand to match with someone."

The gloomy-faced Snape rubbed his chin and looked at Happy's face. "I have never heard of such a wand. Zouwus are creatures that possess incredible power and speed, capable of traveling 1,000 miles in a day. They also have the ability to apparate and even bypass strong measures against disapparition. Perhaps…"

Snape carefully weighed his words before saying his following sentence. "You may have some talents in apparition, Lestrange."

'Sweet bloody luck!' Happy exclaimed internally. 'Apparition is the most broken and convenient thing in magic. But will he teach me?'

"Can you teac—"

"No." Snape rejected it before he could finish. "It is reserved for students of the sixth and seventh years. One mistake, and you could turn into black smoke for life."

'I suspected as much. Perhaps I need to find another mentor elsewhere. The combat training with him is already pushing the limits of his tolerance.' Happy thought and decided to retreat for the time being.

Knock! Knock!

Just then, a knock on the door came, and a woman peeked into the potion's lab. It was the annoying-faced Rita Skeeter. The blonde woman with repulsive glasses, her flying notepad, and Quick-Quotes Quill walked in.

Her face was adorned with a mischievous smile, leaving no doubt in Happy's heart that she had to be dealt with. Her words had single-handedly made his life harder.

Happy shared a glance with Snape and nodded his head. The plan was now a go, and Rita Skeeter would not be returning home with happy memories.

"Miss Skeeter." Happy went to shake her hand. "You look…very pretty." He offered her compliments.

They were absolute lies, however. In reality, she looked hideous, and with that, Happy realized she was the book version of Rita Skeeter. A woman with a heavy-jawed face, thick fingers, penciled eyebrows, three gold teeth, and also large masculine hands.

She loved it, of course. "Thank you, Mr. Lestrange. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Thank you for letting me write this article."

"Pleasure is all mine. We all love your 'well-written' journalistic pieces. So detailed and full of information. Let's sit there and get the interview done." Happy gestured to the seats.

At that, Rita looked at Snape once. "Oh, Professor Snape, congratulations, your Order of Merlin Second Class is all but a formality now. They will soon be contacting you, I'm sure."

Happy smirked underneath the calm face. 'Woman, worry for yourself. It's about time you learn what it is to go against a Lestrange… Ah, I sounded so evil just now.'

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