Chapter 82: Isn't there a printing press there? (Edited)

Today, most of the stores in Diagon Alley are closed for inspection. The Ministry of Magic has stepped up to the plate this time and raided for banned items. But most of these items are banned and have nothing to do with dark magic, just a touch of mischief. Keys that shrink, kettles that bite, etc. Mr. Weasley's Ford car was no exception, if we are to be strict.

Tom waited outside the store for a while and finally Hermione arrived.

"Come on! No work today." Tom told Hermione what had just happened.

"That's a good thing," Hermione said, supporting the Ministry's actions, "They really need to clear out all the contraband items, what are your plans today?"

Tom was also a bit moved: how about, for example, a trip to London with Hermione?

Suddenly, two owls flew past them and handed them a yellow parchment envelope.

"Oh, it's the school owl!" Hermione opened the letter, inside was a list of second year school books, the contents of the list Hermione had known for days, now she just knew for sure.

Hermione sketched a small smile, "It seems the new professor is a Lockhart fan; all the books he asked for are Lockhart's. If Lockhart could be our professor, he must be amazing, with all the books he's written, he must have had some incredible adventures, right?"

Hermione revered the knowledge, she thought that a man who had written so many books must be an amazing person.

Tom rolled his eyes.

"Well, it looks like this has all been a waste of time." Hermione calculated her salary and realized that all the money she had earned in the last few weeks had been spent on buying books, and if she added the books she wanted from the bookstore, she would probably need some support from her family.

Tom, on the other hand, was not worried, as he had already received his set of books. But Tom really hated Lockhart's behavior: he could use two or three books a term, but Lockhart wanted students to buy seven! That's too many.

With the addition of a teacher like Lockhart this year, the Weasleys directly emptied their savings. It's hard to imagine how the Weasleys managed to get five sets of books from Lockhart, plus buy robes and wands for their little sister Ginny.

From what he remembered, Harry saw that Mrs. Weasley had pulled out all the coins stashed at Gringotts...

Hey, Lockhart!

Tom pulled Hermione out of Diagon Alley and into the streets of London.

"Where to?" Hermione asked, a little embarrassed, her head bowed and her little brown leather shoes with bows hitting the ground.

Tom looked around and went to the ice cream parlor down the street and bought two ice creams, three scoops: vanilla, yogurt and plain.

The three best flavors are vanilla, yogurt and plain, followed by chocolate, and the rest of the ice creams are first grade, which is a good indication of the quality of the ingredients. The strawberries and mango have too much syrup added to them, and even if they are made with the best ingredients, they will be overpowered by the flavors of the other fruits and affect the taste of the milk.

When Tom eats ice cream, he only chooses these three flavors.

Tom returned with his ice cream: he was now quite rich, his good friend and business partner Yuri had given him a lot of money and had recently tried to get him to go out on business, but Tom had more interesting things to do, so he turned him down.

Tom passed Hermione an ice cream and then ate another.

"It'll make you fat," Hermione looked at the ice cream and smiled, but still refused.

"Look, the ice cream is cold, isn't it?" Tom licked the top vanilla scoop, "Well, when you eat ice cream, the liquid inside is heated to your body temperature and it needs to absorb heat, I mean, absorb heat, right? So, all the heat from the ice cream is absorbed by itself."

Hermione: Σ(⊙▽⊙)!

She was very confused, it seemed like Tom was talking in circles, but it seemed to make sense...

But she quickly replied, "I don't know how to argue with you... but I already ate. It's impossible to lose weight after eating, isn't it? how can there be anything so good in the world?"

Tom was unimpressed by this, and looked at Hermione with a smile, "It's good for a girl to be a little fleshy."

And naturally, he got two punches in.

And so, the two strolled through the streets of London, which was blessed with a rare sunny day. Truly, the capitals of the two Western European countries of England and France are fascinating, rainy days. Some people are lucky enough to see the sun when it is cloudy every time they pass through Paris.

Tom had a good eye, spotted a print shop at the end of the street and immediately headed that way.

Coincidentally, the two were talking about their textbooks for the new year.

"No need to buy Lockhart's books, I have a complete set, you can take them." Tom was generous: there was no difference between Lockhart's books and the novels sold in the Muggle bookstore. Oh, there is a difference, other best-selling authors don't make their book covers look like movies, and it's still hard for Tom to look at Lockhart's big face smiling at him every day.

"So, what are you going to do? You won't have books, do we have to read the same one together?" Hermione imagined the two of them sitting together in class reading a book, and got a little excited: it must be nice to read with your best friend.

"No, isn't there a print shop over there?" Tom ignored the girl's thoughts and pointed to the print shop with some excitement.

Hermione looked at him and said, "My goodness, Tom, you're not thinking...?" She immediately understood what Tom meant: Lockhart's books were mostly narratives, interspersed with photographs, nothing special, so even if they were Muggle copies, they didn't matter at all.

"It's a pirate copy!" said Hermione angrily.

"Hermione, do you really think it's reasonable to use seven copies of a textbook for one subject in one school year?" Tom looked at Hermione, "Professor McGonagall uses the 'Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration' for two years, the 'Thousand Herbs and Magic Fungi' for Potions is still used until sixth year, and the 'History of Magic' can be used until graduation, so why should a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who will probably teach only one year, use seven books? And by the way, most of the above only cost one or two galleons, while one of Lockhart's great works costs five."

Hermione gaped, her mind so scrambled that she could barely comment on Tom's behavior for a moment.

"Hermione, not everyone lives as prosperously as you do, I'm just helping others in my own way."

Tom dropped these words and walked into the print shop.